Construction has started on the landmark Fleet Street office development scheme, Peterborough Court, an £120 million overhaul of the former European headquarters of Goldman Sachs.
Regis Fleet Street, a vehicle ultimately owned by a Qatari family investment portfolio, lodged plans for the speculative redevelopment in a major commitment to the London office market during the pandemic in September last year.
The property is an Art Deco landmark built in 1927 as the home of the Daily Telegraph. The newspaper moved out in 1987 as publications left Fleet Street for the likes of Docklands and Kensington. Investment bank Goldman Sachs took over the building on an £18 million a year lease that ran out in 2020.
Peterborough Court, at 133 Fleet Street, will be remodelled to create 292,000 square feet of curated Grade A workspace and ground floor retail across eleven floors. The property includes flexible floor plates of between 16,000 square feet and 33,000 square feet, with access to private terraces across four floors and public courtyard open space. The scheme will be available for occupation from the second quarter of 2024.
CBRE and JLL are joint leasing agents.
Peterborough Court will include redeveloped Fleet Street and Shoe Lane building entrances,, a long gallery entrance with new glazing, and redesigned interiors to meet high sustainability standards, and dual-feed, 100% all-electric technology.
Peterborough Court will have 600 cycle spaces, EV charging points, luxury showers, lockers, changing and support facilities. The building is expected to exceed LETI 2030 and RIBA Climate Challenge 2030 embodied carbon targets.
The £120 million investment programme for Peterborough Court is managed by Broadwater Capital, on behalf of RFS, the owner.
Phillip Bennison, head of development and investment at Broadwater Capital, said in a statement: “Demand for prime, amenity-focused offices in central London continues to strengthen post-pandemic, as businesses seek to create engaging and versatile spaces for employees to work together, especially those with embedded cosy, relaxed open spaces and innovative features.
“Peterborough Court will be remodelled to provide corporates with a world-class headquarters, designed to the highest sustainability standards, and to promote well-being, productivity and collaborative working. Peterborough Court combines the highest contemporary ESG standards with an iconic address, a fantastic workspace environment, specular City views and impeccable transportation links.”
WeWork had been in talks to take on the building as it was set to be vacated by Goldman in what would have been its largest UK site. Those talks fell through in January 2020 after the US group's failed public listing led it to call a virtual halt to its expansion programme.
Fleet Street Investments II, a Cayman Islands registered special purpose vehicle ultimately controlled by Qatari investors, bought the freehold interest in Peterborough Court and the adjoining Daniel House in 2012, knowing Goldman was pushing to create a major new campus elsewhere. The £264 million deal had a net initial yield of around 6.36%.
Its decision to press on with the speculative refurbishment clearly reflects the owner's long-term confidence in the City of London post-Brexit and as the pandemic continues to have less of an impact on the capital.
City planners approved Goldman Sachs’ plans for an 843,922-square-foot new campus in London in March 2013. Since then, Goldman Sachs has demolished the previous 13-storey Fleet Building at 40 Shoe Lane and Plumtree Court, EC4, and developed a nine-storey office building. In 2011, Goldman bought Plumtree Court in a move which gave the investment bank the opportunity to create a mega campus given the proximity of the property to its Fleet Building.