An office block in Millbank leased to parliament could be turned into a new, greener scheme under proposals by its owner.
7 Millbank, or Westminster House, SW1, was designed in the early 1900s as the headquarters of British American Tobacco and has been extended since into Smith Square. Today, it is let to the Parliamentary Estate, which will leave next year.
Baola Properties now wants to demolish the building to make way for a new, nine-storey office block that reuses some of the facades of the current site in an effort to reduce embodied carbon.
The Make Architects-designed scheme would offer 209,000 sq ft of office space with floorplates of various sizes, terraces on floors six to eight and a “bio-diverse” roof garden. Baola is eyeing a BREEAM outstanding rating for the building’s sustainability.
In a planning statement for the proposals, Gerald Eve described the existing building as “poorly configured and in need of major investment if it is to continue to meet modern office occupier requirements”.
Nonetheless, the firm added, the offices are in “an enviable position” and the goal is “to create an attractive and healthy working environment”.
“The traditional office concept is rapidly changing, and it is vital that modern workspaces provide a flexible environment where there are a range of amenities available for the occupier,” the statement read.
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