Apple presses on with Covent Garden HQ

  US superbrand Apple has received the go-ahead for a new European HQ in London’s historic Covent Garden.   Westminster council approved plans for the 63,000 sq ft redevelopment of the Capital & Counties-owned block comprising 1 The Piazza, 6-7 The Piazza and 33 James Street, WC2, last week.   The council’s planning officers had recommended refusal, siding with English Heritage’s calls for the historic Bedford Chambers in the block to be protected.   However, the committee, chaired by the council’s deputy leader Robert Davis, overruled the recommendation, saying: “Apple obviously wants to be based in a vibrant, successful area, and we’re delighted to oblige.”    The iPod manufacturer is now set to redevelop the block as 32,000 sq ft of offices and a 31,000 sq ft flagship store, dwarfing its 22,000 sq ft shop on Regent Street, W1. CapCo – a subsidiary of Liberty International – has plans to regenerate the wider Covent Garden estate, which it bought from Scottish Widows and Henderson for £421m in 2006.   EG revealed Apple’s plans to anchor the regeneration of Covent Garden earlier this year (1 March, p39).   bridget.oconnell@rbi.co.uk