Three chasing scheme next to developer鈥檚 New Street Square project
Landsec has unveiled its plans to demolish a 1970s office block in the City of London and replace it with a 20-storey tower.
The developer has appointed Apt as lead architect on the Hill House job, thought to be worth around 拢250m, and submitted a full planning application at the end of last week.
It is the first time Landsec has provided visuals of the scheme, which will nearly treble the floorspace of the existing building on the corner of Shoe Lane and Little New Street and more than double its height.
Mace, Multiplex and Skanska are all in the running for the main contractor job with tenders due back early in the new year.
The building will add to Landsec鈥檚 existing four-block development at New Street Square and will be directly opposite 1 New Street Square, another scheme designed by Apt for the developer.
Planning documents drawn up by Apt for the Hill House job show a broad ground floor tapering towards a narrower top floor and heavily planted terraces on each level.
Landsec said in the application that its objective for the scheme is to 鈥渃hallenge the convention of what an office-led, mixed-use development should look like鈥�.
鈥淲e are seeing an acceleration in trends towards health and wellbeing in the workplace and buildings of the highest ESG credentials,鈥� it added.
鈥淭his includes a major shift towards workplaces which blur the line between task based and social activities, with generous external spaces and soft landscaping accessible throughout the building and priority placed on active travel, including a significant focus on the experience of cyclists and runners.鈥�
Inside the building would be a main core with 10 lifts, a basement gym, a 鈥渄estination鈥� restaurant and a new ground-floor home for the Shoe Lane Library, relocating it from its current premises in the basement of the existing Hill House.
Landsec said the existing brutalist building, designed by Ronald Fielding Partnership and completed in 1979, provided a 鈥減oor contribution鈥� to the public realm as its street level was mostly 鈥渙paque鈥� and lacked an active frontage.
It added its internal workspace was dark, inflexible and burdened with inefficient building services which were considered to be nearing the end of their life and would require 鈥渆xtensive works to bring it up to today鈥檚 standards, let alone future requirements to tackle the climate emergency鈥�.
The project team includes QS Exigere, project manager Gardiner & Theobald, planning consultant Avison Young, structural engineer Waterman Structures, fire and acoustics engineer Hoare Lea and landscape architect Phil Allen Design.
Also on the scheme are transport consultant Caneparo Associates, heritage and townscape consultant Tavernor Consultancy, WSP on equalities and health and David Bonnet Associates on accessibility.
Landsec鈥檚 current jobs in London include the 拢400m Timber Square project in Southwark, designed by Bennetts Associates, which will be built by Mace after the firm replaced Laing O鈥橰ourke earlier this year.
This job, worth more than 拢200m, is now being let as a construction management deal after the earlier scheme, which saw O鈥橰ourke originally beat Mace, was tendered as a design and build contract.
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