Planning Permission Granted, Online, to Transform London’s Cavendish Square From Car Park to Health and Wellbeing Destination
Main Photo: The proposed Cavendish Square project – imagined
Date: May 2020
Location: Cavendish Square, Central London, England, UK
Name: TBA – opening 2023
Seller: Westminster Council…First landscaped in 1729, Cavendish Square is one of London’s original Georgian squares. In 1969 the site lost much of its connection with the surrounding area when the current car park was constructed. The Cavendish Square project will connect three of London’s most iconic addresses – Harley Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street – and complement Westminster City Council’s Oxford Street District proposals.
The project will be one of London’s most sustainable developments, reducing traffic volumes and repurposing much of the existing car park structure, and significantly enhancing the above-ground space for public use.
Buyer: Westminster City Council has approved developer Reef Group’s plans to invest over £150m in Cavendish Square, transforming the space into a subterranean mixed-use destination in the heart of the West End and create one of London’s premier public spaces.
Westminster City Council approved the plans via a virtual planning committee, thought to be its first major application approval completed online.
Cavendish Square London is aimed at the US$4.5 trillion global health and wellbeing industry; leveraging the site’s unique location linking three of London’s most iconic addresses – Harley Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street. The scheme will deliver much-needed specialist facilities for London’s private healthcare sector, which has doubled in size in ten years, and premium retail and leisure space.
The development will total 280,000 sq ft across four storeys below ground level. Wellbeing and sustainability were key in influencing the design, with glazed lanterns at street level, light wells and internal atria drawing natural light to the floors below. At street level, statement entrances to Harley Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street complete the development.
Cavendish Square London will be one of the West End’s largest ever developments, with floors of up to 80,000 sq ft and floor to ceiling heights of up to 8m. Above the development, Cavendish Square Gardens provides a natural extension of the below-ground space and a physical embodiment of the scheme’s vision – a wellbeing ecosystem in the heart of London.
Reef Group is in advanced discussions with several tenants to occupy the space. Construction is expected to start next year with completion in 2023.
Stewart Deering, Joint Chief Executive of Reef Group, said: “Reef Group has worked closely with Westminster City Council to design an iconic destination for London and we are delighted to have secured planning consent for the scheme. We will invest more than £150m in developing a vibrant, sustainable and sensitively designed place with a core focus on health and wellbeing.
“The scheme is designed with flexibility in mind and we’re talking to occupiers from a variety of sectors. The health and wellbeing industry is predicted to grow substantially and Cavendish Square London is well placed to respond to this trend.”
CBRE and Savills act as agents on the Cavendish Square London scheme. UrbanR are lead Architects, supported by Gensler and Sonnemann Toon.
THPT Comment: No hotel development here, but very exciting project. Reef group are also behind the development of the 22 storey, 189 key aparthotel – The Gate, in Aldgate in the City of London, with EQ Hotels, that was due to open last month.
First Seen: Reef Group website
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