Leisure and cultural offerings can reshape London’s real estate landscape, particularly in areas such as the Square Mile.
At the London stand’s London and leisure: all fun and games panel, Shravan Joshi, planning and transportation chair at the City of London Corporation, emphasised the need for the City Corp to rethink its cultural and hospitality offerings in order to attract top talent.
“If we’re going to get the best talent in the world to come and work in the best city in the world, they have to have a complete experience,” he said, noting that the City must offer more than just prime office space.
“We have to make sure we don’t end up with that sort of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday peak and then nothing else for four days. Experiential hooks are critical to making that urban environment something that draws people in.”
The introduction of strategies such as its Destination City reflects this commitment to reimagining the Square Mile as a cultural hub.
The City’s updated local plan now prioritises flexibility, particularly for older office stock. With overall vacancy rates hovering around 8%, the City Corp has streamlined planning policies to accelerate change-of-use applications, aiming to repurpose outdated buildings into hotels, cultural spaces and educational facilities.
Derek Griffin, head of acquisitions at Whitbread, said the hotel group had long been a pioneer in adaptive reuse, converting old office buildings into hotels even before sustainability became a key concern. He said: “The adaptation and reuse, particularly of office buildings… was a practical need.” He cited examples such as the Premier Inn at Smithfield, which was part new-build, part-conversion of a former office.
Nesdale of Arcadis echoed Joshi’s points about adapting to evolving demands, stressing the importance of blended use in city planning.
“Too often we think that the driver for economic change or development in cities may be finance or tech, but actually… the blended uses of leisure, culture, and beyond are really so important to make investable and successful places,” she said.
Maja Nesdale, principal, architecture and urbanism at Arcadis, emphasised the importance of learning from how London’s fringes have flourished. “The interesting thing about the City in particular is how it interacts with its fringes. Historically, that’s what has made the City strong,” she said, pointing to areas such as King’s Cross and Shoreditch as prime examples of successful redevelopment.
She also said collaboration between developers, architects and local authorities was critical, particularly when it comes to adaptive reuse. “We’re not just designing new buildings anymore. We’re reshaping our cities to be more sustainable and resilient,” she added.
The discussion also touched on lessons that London could learn from other major cities.
Joshi pointed to US cities such as Boston and New York, where developers have successfully created environments attractive to high-growth industries like tech and life sciences.
“We need to be sector-agnostic and embrace those emerging sectors. That’s something we’re still learning how to do effectively,” he said.
Panel:
Chair: Tim Burke, editor, Estates Gazette
Derek Griffin, head of acquisitions, Whitbread
Shravan Joshi, planning and transportation chair, City of London Corporation,
Maja Nesdale, principal, architecture and urbanism, Arcadis
Image © Estates Gazette
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