Ivanhoé Cambridge is planning to refurbish and extend a City of London office block, creating “an exemplar” for green workspaces.
The Canadian investor-developer wants to part-demolish and extend the eight-storey 21 Lombard Street, EC3.
The plans would see the south-west corner of the block demolished, with an infill extension between floors three and seven. There would then be a two-storey extension, a new facade and new entrances to the building on Lombard Street and on the corner of King William Street and Abchurch Lane. The redevelopment would also add terraces to floors seven to 11. The gross internal area would be lifted from 175,785 sq ft to 205,526 sq ft. Co-Re is development manager for the scheme.
A planning statement prepared by Gerald Eve said the block, built in 2000, “performs poorly with an EPC rating of E, provides outdated office space and inefficient mechanical, electrical and plumbing, lacks modern end-of-trip facilities, provides a constrained loading bay and has an unwelcoming existing facade at street level”.
It added that the new proposals represent “a sustainable refurbishment and extension of the existing building to deliver a destination office space with active ground-floor spaces that enlivens the streetscape while also meeting energy and carbon demands”.
The owner plans to retain at least 70% of the existing structure and reuse materials “wherever possible”. Architects at Woods Bagot said the scheme will be “an exemplar of whole-life-carbon thinking for the transformation of existing buildings in London”, adding: “The scheme is conceived to deliver optimal reduction of embodied and operational carbon, and consideration has been given to how decisions taken today can give the building the longest possible life.”
Ivanhoé Cambridge bought the building in 2015 for £125m. It has a gym on the ground floor and offices above.
Images: Lead image © EG
CGI image courtesy of ING Media
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