Free WiFi, co-working spaces and a beating heart. That is what the Grosvenor Estate is aiming to bring to London’s Mayfair and Belgravia as part of its new 20-year vision.
The vision, unveiled by the landed estate this week, focuses on seven key themes including improving public realm, creating more green spaces, developing business districts with diverse occupiers and reducing pollution.
Key among them is bringing life back to many of the estate’s squares, principally Grosvenor Square, W1, of which Grosvenor, with the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, is taking back management.
Will Bax, executive director of Grosvenor’s London estate said: “Grosvenor Square is London’s second largest garden square. It shouldn’t be a space that is only available to the immediate community and we think there is a great opportunity to do something imaginative, particularly with the American embassy leaving and a large amount of development on the square.”
The population of the square is anticipated to grow once the US government moves out of its 225,000 sq ft embassy at 24-31 Grosvenor Square for a new pad at Ballymore’s Embassy Gardens in Battersea, SW8, within the next few months. That move should enable Qatari Diar to push on with its plans to convert the embassy building into a 137-bedroom luxury hotel. That redevelopment, coupled with Finchatton’s residential scheme, Twenty Grosvenor Square, will bring fresh blood to the square.
“Mayfair wants Grosvenor Square to be its beating heart, but the heart isn’t beating,” said Bax. “It could be a game-changer for the area. It should be an amazing oasis but also an active place of culture and creativity.”
And Grosvenor’s vision is not just to bring creativity to Grosvenor Square, it wants to inject new life across its London portfolio.
“We want really thriving business communities. Mayfair and Belgravia aren’t just seen as a home for mature businesses,” said Bax. “One of the pressures on rents is the sense there is a finite amount of space, so we would like to provide more commercial and residential space in a way that allows us to use different tenures.
“I would anticipate seeing more serviced office-type products than we currently have, which will allow us to deliver value but on a different occupational model.”
Good serviced-office and co-working space, requires good connections, however, and Grosvenor has teamed up with BT Openreach and telecoms company Ventura Next to invest some £2m over the next five years to deliver superfast fibre broadband across 70% of its estate.
It also aims to provide free public WiFi across selected streets – following three pilots this year at Motcomb Street, Eccleston Yards and Brown Hart Gardens – and install five new 4G masts over the next three years.
Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, said: “Grosvenor’s London estate is in the heart of our city and includes some of the most historic and popular areas. The estate’s plans demonstrate how developers can provide high-quality public space in a rapidly growing city. I welcome the steps being taken to upgrade the estate and ensure it is fit for future generations of Londoners and visitors.”
Grosvenor’s vision
Grosvenor’s new 20-year vision is based around seven key themes:
- Active neighbourhoods that appeal to all users and to all possibilities for buildings and public spaces
- Integrated districts that are open to the rest of London, attractive to anyone who wants to visit, explore, eat, drink, shop and relax
- Communities connected by cultural events and working spaces as well by leisure, education, retail, and digital infrastructure
- Better streets – less traffic, better access for cyclists and pedestrians
- Open green spaces in central London – improved biodiversity and cleaner air to enjoy the outdoors
- Thriving, enterprising businesses – both young and old, including retail
- Architectural beauty – maintaining existing historical buildings and developing new, adaptable ones
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