Great Portland Estates said today that it had received resolution to grant planning permission from the City of Westminster for its proposed development at Rathbone Place, W1.
Presently the site of the Royal Mail West End Delivery Office, the site was acquired in 2011 for £120 million and leased back to Royal Mail, who vacated in August 2013.
MAKE architects have designed a comprehensive development to provide new buildings totaling 414,000 sq. ft., which will include a new public square and new pedestrian routes linking Rathbone Place, W1 and Newman Street W1, together with 42,000 sq. ft. of retail space, 217,000 sq. ft. of offices and 155,000 sq. ft. of residential in 162 units on the 2.3 acre site.
Planning officers in their report described the mixed-use scheme as 'a distinctive, characterful proposal, of high architectural and urban design quality'.
GPE plan to start work with the demolition of the existing buildings in February 2014 for completion in July 2016. The development will be a major contributor to the regeneration of the East End of Oxford Street, ahead of Crossrail opening in 2018.
Oxford House, which adjoins this site (51-68 & 70-82 Oxford Street) has recently been acquired by GPE from Land Securities as it faces the entrance to the western ticket hall of the new tube and Crossrail station. http://ukbusinessproperty.co.uk/news/de ... 90-million" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Prior to the sale, Land Securities had submitted plans for the existing building extended and refurbished into 89 high quality residential apartments above an enlarged retail offering of 31,744 sq ft over the basement, ground and first floors. The scheme retains a significant part of the existing internal structure but the building will be completely transformed with a new façade and more eye-catching double-height retail frontage.
At the time of the acquisition GPE said:
"The east end of Oxford Street will see significant redevelopment over the next decade, including the opening of the Tottenham Court Road Crossrail Station, the entrance for which is opposite Oxford House. GPE has a leading role to play in this regeneration through its ownership of three key sites with the potential for more than 600,000 sq. ft. of new, mixed-use space."
On a historical note Rathbone Place Sorting Office has on level 4 of it's basement a station on the mothballed Mail Rail line, which runs for six miles from Paddington to the Whitechapel Mail office, via Barrett Street, Wimpole Street, New Oxford Street, the main London sorting office at Mount Pleasant, King Edward Street and Liverpool Street. What GPE will do with it has not been mentioned.
