Mitsubishi Estate and Stanhope's plans for a £250 million offices-led redevelopment of a recently vacated government headquarters in London's Victoria have been recommended for approval by planners ahead of a Westminster planning committee meeting next week (3 September).
The duo's plans for 1 Victoria Street would see the retention of the two-storey basement and demolition of the existing 1960s building above ground level, with nine upper floors for use as retail, restaurant, leisure/experience, medical and office uses together with associated ancillary spaces. It also proposes public realm improvements, including landscaping.
Designed by architect AHMM, the office-led development is a "deep retrofit" with new build elements that will extend the floor space by over 100,000 square feet to 700,000 square feet.
The building would provide 59,432 square metre (639,720 square feet) of Class E office floorspace at ground and upper floors, an uplift of 10,782 square metres (116,000 square feet) and flexible Class E retail units of 5,961 square metres or 61,000 square feet at ground and part basement levels to provide an active street frontage.
The application was revised in June 2024 during the course of its consideration to allow for additional demolition. The originally proposed ‘reinvention option’ had proposed the retention of the basement structures and the west wing of the existing building above ground with only the demolition of the east wing and replacement with new construction extending to the perimeter of the site. But following structural investigations indicating corrosion of steel reinforcement bars, this option was no longer viable.
Planners are recommending permission is awarded subject to a section 106 legal agreement to secure a number of features including 2,405 square metres of affordable workspace with a minimum of 50% discount of the market rent and a minimum lease term of 25 years, and a financial contribution of £2,243,010towards the council's Carbon Off Set Fund.
Until the end of January 2024, the site was occupied by the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy but is now vacant. Westminster planners says the duo has advised that it would not be possible to relet the building without considerable work given the building’s poor current Energy Performance Certificate rating which is rated E.
On its website outlining the plans Stanhope and Mitsubishi say: "Our vision is to deliver a more attractive and sustainable mixed-use commercial building, with active retail along Victoria Street and high-quality office accommodation above.
"The building became vacant just prior to submission [of the original plans] allowing us to carry out extensive investigation works throughout the building since that time. We found elevated chloride levels (salts) within the concrete throughout the existing structure of the building which have caused significant corrosion and will continue to do so.
"Unfortunately, this means we will not be able to retain as much of the existing structure as previously thought. Continuing to prioritise sustainability, we have been exploring a range of options for the future of this site. Our updated plans will therefore include removing all compromised structures while continuing to retain 52% of the existing structure by volume. The new plans for the site will be delivering a scheme that will perform more efficiently than the previous scheme, over the long term."
Mitsubishi Estate London (MEL) have owned the site for the last 10 years.