Lazari Investments’ plans to redevelop Fenwick’s former store on New Bond Street, W1, as an office-led scheme have been given the go-ahead.
Westminster City Council approved plans to retrofit the buildings at 15-17 Brook Street and 53-63 New Bond Street last night.
The new 10-storey Foster + Partners-designed scheme will provide around 50,504 sq ft of retail space on the ground and first floors, with offices from the second to ninth floors.
This will reduce the retail space at the site by more than 60%, but is a vote of confidence for offices, with space increasing from 24,617 sq ft to 175,043 sq ft.
The department store, which has been the brand’s primary home in the capital for 130 years, was sold by the Fenwick family in December 2022. Lazari bought the site for £428m.
As part of the renovation, facades will be lifted to align the floorplates above and create four two-storey retail units. The offices will have a separate entrance on Brook Street and will include an atrium, terraces and a roof garden.
The scheme will retain more than 50% of the existing structure, as well as 75% of the historic facades and is targeting top sustainability credentials including BREEAM Outstanding. It is expected to complete at the end of 2026.
Len Lazari, director at Lazari Investments, said: “Our decision to acquire the Fenwick site was heavily influenced by our love of the architecture and its Mayfair surroundings, together with our belief in the enduring attraction of retail on Bond Street. We believe Foster + Partners’ design for the completed scheme will assist in enhancing Bond Street’s global status.”
At the same meeting, councillors voted in line with officers’ recommendations and rejected the Pollen Estate’s plans for a redevelopment at 18-20 Savile Row, W1, with the planning committee chair using a casting vote.
The estate wanted to demolish the existing buildings and develop an eight-storey building with retail or restaurant space on the ground floor and offices above.
However, council planning officers recommended the scheme for refusal, arguing that it “fails to adhere to circular economy principles and principles of sustainable design, both of which prioritise the retention, refitting and refurbishment of existing buildings”.
The recommendation added: “The proposed development would therefore fail to help transition London to a low-carbon circular economy through generating unjustified waste and carbon emissions.”
It continued: “Despite finding that the demolition and new-build option would be the most carbon-intensive option, the applicant proceeded with this development option on the grounds that the other options were unable to provide the same quality of space, flexibility, occupier comfort, along with health, wellbeing and environmental standards when compared to the new build.”
Noel Manns, chairman of The Pollen Estate, said the estate was “disappointed” by the decision.
“The Pollen Estate is a long-term custodian of East Mayfair,” Manns said. “We believe in sensitively refurbishing and repositioning our historic estate wherever possible. We have not sought to wholly replace a building in generations. However, the two buildings at 18-20 Savile Row are inherently flawed; poorly built on a bomb site in the post-war period with inflexible floorplates, very low floor to ceiling heights, a raised ground floor and poor operational carbon credentials.”
He added: “It is disappointing that the decision to refuse our application, by use of the chair’s casting vote, follows extensive pre-application discussions with Westminster City Council officers since 2021 and is despite the application benefiting from the strong support of the community, including from the Savile Row Bespoke Association and the Mayfair Neighbourhood Forum. Following extensive stakeholder consultation, during which a number of changes were made, there were no objections to the plans… To have a policy compliant application handled in this way is very concerning for us and the wider property industry. We are now carefully considering our next steps.”
Image © Foster + Partners
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