(LONDON) – Hines, the international real estate firm, has secured planning consent from Westminster City Council for its proposed flagship mixed-use retail and office scheme in the heart of London’s West End, located with dual frontage to both 80 New Bond Street and 325 Oxford Street.
The highly sought-after 37,414-square-foot eight-story building, arranged over lower ground, ground and six upper floors was acquired on behalf of the Hines European Value Fund 2 (HEVF 2) in February 2020.
The planning consent will enable Hines to proceed with plans for a remodeled scheme, which will retain a significant retail presence at ground and first floor level, transforming it into two-story space to meet the exacting requirements of contemporary retail occupiers.
The scheme will provide a total office area of 31,000 square feet NIA (Net Internal Area) with floorplates ranging from 3,000 to 6,500 square feet NIA, and a large communal roof terrace of 1,100 square feet. The office entrance will be repositioned on to Dering Street, incorporating a dedicated, spacious reception area.
Jake Walsh, Managing Director, Hines UK, said: “We’re pleased to receive planning consent which gives us the green light to proceed with our exciting plans for this development. It is probably the best micro-location in London’s West End, with Oxford Street and Bond Street amongst the world’s most iconic and popular retail streets. The two-story shop fronts will provide a unique shop window for any global brand in an unparalleled location.”
Designed by the award-winning Orms Architects, the scheme is targeting BREEAM Excellent with ambitions of achieving Outstanding. It is also aiming for WELL Platinum Ready and Wired & Smart Score Platinum.
Refurbishing instead of redeveloping the building will save c800kgs of CO2 per m2, underlined by a commitment to offset the next 30 years of operational carbon. Its environmental features include the minimizing of embodied carbon through use of low carbon materials and refurbished floor tiles, while carbon modeling software will establish the best materials and fabric buildups to reduce embodied carbon.
The refurbishment work will begin this summer with full completion and the retail and office units ready for occupation anticipated in the spring of 2023.
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 240 cities in 27 countries. Hines oversees a portfolio of assets under management valued at approximately $160.9 billionÂą, including $81.7 billion in assets under management for which Hines serves as investment manager, and $79.2 billion representing more than 172.9 million square feet of assets for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,450 properties, totaling over 485 million square feet. The firm has more than 180 developments currently underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world.
Since entering Europe in 1991, Hines has grown its European platform to include offices in 16 cities as well as a presence in 62 cities in 13 countries. Hines oversees a portfolio of assets under management valued at approximately €26.3 billion of assets under management in Europe, including €21.9 billion for which Hines serves as an investment manager and €4.4 billion representing more than 3.8 million square meters of assets for which Hines provides third-party property-level services, in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Visit www.hines.com for more information.
ÂąAUM includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of December 31, 2020.
