Rathbone Square

Regenerating the East End of Oxford Street

Rathbonesquare.com

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Very rarely does the opportunity arise to create a brand new space in the heart of central London. Formerly a post office warehouse, we have transformed this 2.3 acre site, just north of Oxford Street, into a vibrant new addition to London’s West End.

As well as 242,800 sq ft of Grade A office space pre-let to Facebook, Rathbone Square provides 140 private residential apartments seamlessly stitched into the heart of London and a carefully curated and characterful choice of cafes, shops and restaurants surrounding one of the first new squares created in central London in 100 years.

Neatly integrated into its historic surroundings, just 50 yards from Tottenham Court Road station and the soon-to-open Crossrail, this is the perfect base to experience everything central London has to offer and we feel privileged to have played a part in the area’s story.

In February 2017, we sold the commercial element of the building to Deka for a gross price of £435 million, equating to a 4.25% net initial yield.

Spring 2017 Offices

Completed

140

Private residential apartments

242,800 Office space

sq ft

25,200 Retail space

sq ft

The move to our new offices at One Rathbone Square is a fantastic opportunity to occupy a high-quality new development in the heart of the West End. The location has excellent amenities and connectivity, with the very best the city has to offer right on the doorstep, including Crossrail once it is established.

Robert Cookson Head of EMEA, APAC and Americas Real Estate, Facebook

1060 (during peak construction)

People working on site

'Excellent' rated

BREEAM Accreditation

2.3

Acres

Standout features

Maximising development

A development site of 2.3 acres is a rare commodity in the West End but we knew it offered an excellent opportunity to deliver a first class mixed use scheme in this improving part of the West End. Following the appointment of Make Architects, the design took shape for 419,000 sq ft of office, residential and retail space, an increase of 45,000 sq ft over the vendor’s proposals.

Previous ‘dead’ frontage along Newman Street and Rathbone Place will be replaced with retail units and the scheme will also provide 20 affordable housing units on-site in an area of the West End which is short of this type of accommodation.

Planning ability to gain the best possible consent

To achieve the best possible planning consent, we held a series of meetings with Westminster City Council to establish planning policy for the site, resulting in us achieving their objective for a mixed use scheme with high quality public realm.

With the uses divided between offices (58%) residential (36%) and retail (6%) our high quality design will provide new pedestrian connectivity between Rathbone Place and Newman Street via a landscaped public square, filled with mature planting, lawns, trees and water features.

A combination of the right natural materials and massing refinements ensures the development blends into the streetscape and ensures the public space enjoys good levels of sunlight.

Working closely with third parties on what is a difficult site

A development of the scale proposed would inevitably impact on the surrounding buildings and this position was heightened as part of the site has been a car park for 50 years. We met the owners of neighbouring buildings at an early stage to explain our proposals and where appropriate make adjustments. We also negotiated over 90 separate neighbourly agreements in time to meet the building programme.

Exemplary execution of sales and leasing campaigns

Our residential sales campaigns focusing on the combination of the quality of our apartments, the adjacency to a new garden square and its central West End location, enabled us to forward sell the majority of the units early in the construction phase.

By taking a pragmatic approach to the deal structure, we were also able to pre-let the entirety of the 242,800 sq ft of office space to Facebook. Early engagement between our professional and technical teams has allowed Facebook to influence the design of their space.

The success of both of these activities has enabled us to significantly de-risk our largest development to date.

The successful residential sales campaign reflects the high quality residential accommodation that GPE is creating. The seamless transition from exterior to interior, the appeal of the apartments and the attractive new garden square will deliver a first rate development in a premier West End location.

Ken Shuttleworth Founding Partner, Make Architects