Stanhope and Mitsubishi plan revamp of tired Westminster office block

Stanhope and Mitsubishi Estates London have filed plans for the redevelopment of a Westminster office block recently vacated by a government department. 1 Victoria Street, SW1, was home to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy until January. The 1960s building is on an island site bounded by Victoria Street, Abbey Orchard Street and Great Smith Street. The owners want to part-demolish and extend the block, creating a 10-storey building with some 624,000 sq ft of offices as well as retail, restaurant and leisure space. The Allford Hall Monaghan Morris-designed scheme would also feature new public realm, including a pocket park. Plans were lodged with Westminster City Council this month. A planning statement from Gerald Eve said: “The existing building is approaching 60 years old and is technically reaching the end of its design life. It falls considerably below modern environmental standards and contains asbestos. It does not reflect or enhance its sensitive surroundings, does not function efficiently in the way that modern offices need to, nor does it interact well with its immediate context in townscape or amenity terms.” The owners noted that “EPC energy efficiency standards mean that it cannot be relet to a new commercial tenant without significant investment to bring it up to modern sustainability standard”. Gerald Eve added that the proposals represent a “reinvention” of the building in which the basement, substructure and foundations will be retained, along with the western wing of the building above ground. Some 61% of the existing building by volume will be retained, with 47% of the proposed structure made up of elements of the existing site.