75 London Wall, earlier referred to as Winchester House and formerly the UK headquarters of Deutsche Bank, will be the latest development to reflect the commitment of Gamuda and real estate investors Castleforge to sustainable, best-in-class office spaces. The plans, developed by London-based architects Orms, will see the building’s capacity increased by 40% to 688,000 sq ft as part of a joint venture with Castleforge. The full redevelopment is anticipated to be delivered by Q3 2027.
A recent poll of more than 1,800 office workers around the UK, commissioned by Castleforge, found that people are ready to leave their sofas and brave the commute, with more than a third reporting feeling socially isolated at home. These attitudes are particularly prominent amongst 18- to 24-year-olds, with 43% reporting increased feelings of social isolation and 59% saying they are less productive when working from home.
75 London Wall will be a future-proof, sustainable office space, designed to retain the best talent for the employers who become its tenants. The resulting scheme maintains the best of the existing building to deliver a design that seeks to minimise whole-life carbon emissions while providing greater flexibility, amenity and daylight levels for occupiers.
75 London Wall sets a new standard for retaining and intensifying the use of office buildings in the City of London. The project will retain 89% of the existing built fabric, including the existing facades on the lower levels.
The offices will be fully refurbished to provide energy-efficient, grade A+ accommodation targeting BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, WELL Core ‘Platinum’, and NABERS UK 5 Star Design for Performance. High quality end of journey facilities will be provided to promote active travel.
On the ground floor, new commercial units will enhance the offer of the building to the whole area, with a new cultural forum space that will create a venue for events, performances and public speaking.
A new public space, ‘Priors Garden’, designed by the award-winning Andy Sturgeon Design, will create a green place to pause on an enhanced pedestrian route that links to Austin Friars via a historic city passageway.
Multiplex has been selected as the preferred main contractor and has been appointed under a Pre-Construction Services Agreement. It will now begin consultation on the project, offering buildability advice in the remaining design stages ahead of entering the main construction contract in Q3 2025.
The granting of full planning consent means that the building works will now be able to begin, marking the start of the transformation of the site into the grade-A sustainable offices that Gamuda and Castleforge envision.
Chu Wai Lune, Chief Executive Officer of Gamuda Land, said:
“The granting of full planning consent marks a significant step forward for 75 London Wall. Construction can now begin, allowing Gamuda and Castleforge to realise our vision for the site: transforming it into a premium, sustainable office space. This approval signifies a key milestone in the project's development.
It also further solidifies Gamuda’s presence in the UK property development market, where it aims to build a regional portfolio of real estate projects with high rates of return”.
Michael Kovacs, Founding Partner of Castleforge, said:
“In order to bring workers back into the office, occupiers will increasingly look for spaces that set them apart from their competitors. We never bought the idea that office working was ‘dead’ and so it is proving as people flock back to Central London.
“The planned refurbishment of 75 London Wall will create best-in-class office spaces, in a top location with the significant amenities blue chip companies now demand for their people.
“The building will also set a new standard for sustainability in London office space making a lease here a win for the planet and a win for occupiers’ ESG strategies.”
Orms’ plan for the building is a design that extensively reuses the existing building, “growing” the original architecture by introducing new storeys as a stacked series of layers that subtly change in material and detailing as the building rises to introduce lightness to the top of the structure.
This approach will ensure that the development looks like “one building”, rather than a traditional “building and extension”, and as such was judged to better complement local conservation areas.
Colin McColl, Director at Orms, said:
“75 London Wall sets a new reference point for the upgrade and extension of headquarters office buildings. This is the kind of project our cities need: sensitive to context and respectful of the existing grain, while taking advantage of opportunities to improve the building offer, both inside and out.
"Our vision for 75 London Wall is not merely about redevelopment; it's about setting a new standard for sustainability, adaptability, and community enhancement in the heart of the City of London.”
Gamuda and Castleforge’s vision for the site are informed by their internal research, which shows that demand for new office space will be concentrated primarily in best-in-class spaces with luxury amenities and prime locations, and in flexible office spaces which allow shorter leases and provide hospitality for small- and medium-sized companies.
Since its inception in 2010, Castleforge has invested approximately £1 billion, gaining a strong reputation for value-add investment in office and residential real estate across the UK and Europe. Its portfolio of workspaces includes Clockwise locations in the UK, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
(14 June 2024)