Hermes is planning to turn the 54,000 sq ft SW1 office block it bought from German fund HansaInvest this summer for £42m into a luxury residential scheme.
The fund manager plans to turn 8-10 Great George Street, which overlooks St James Park, into a 15-25 flat scheme, featuring a 10,000 sq ft restaurant on the ground floor.
Hermes is the latest in a growing line of London investors seeking change of use from office to residential. According to Cluttons, applications for residential conversion have been rising dramatically for several years. It found that in 2012, some 109 applications were submitted to the central London boroughs, almost treble that in 2011.
Since the government allowed the conversion from office to residential without consent in January, some 77 proposals have already been submitted across just three boroughs – Camden, Islington and Westminster.
annabel.dixon@estatesgazette.com
