Scheme at 55 Old Broad Street has been on hold for much of this year
Keltbray is set to begin demolition work next month on Landsec’s stalled redevelopment at 55 Old Broad Street in the City of London.
Building understands Landsec has agreed a funding deal with partner Ashby Capital, a private equity firm specialising in real estate, paving the way for work on the site to begin in earnest.
Scaffolding started going up at the site in the spring but the job has been on hold since the summer while Landsec worked out what to do next after saying it was scaling back the amount of offices it was going to build.
But the deal with Ashby is set to kickstart the job back into life with Keltbray moving onto the site next month carrying out demolition ahead of enabling and substructure works.
Skanska was appointed main contractor on the job under a PCSA earlier this year.
The 55 Old Broad Street plans involve replacing a 1970s-built block, which had included a pub and bank at street level, with a 24-storey tower designed by Fletcher Priest.
The City gave the scheme the green light in November 2023 despite objections from the Victorian Society which said the tower, which will be partially cantilevered over a listed Victorian bath house, would “engulf” the 1895 Turkish-style building.
Landsec paid £87m for 55 Old Broad Street in 2020, saying at the time that redeveloping the 10-storey building would result in a “compelling best-in-class destination” over the medium term.
The project would deliver 33,081sq m of new office space, a new pub, retail space and around 5,500sq m of ancillary space, Landsec said.
M&E consultant Atelier Ten, structural engineer Heyne Tillett Steel, project manager Turner & Townsend are all part of the project team.
In September, a Stanhope joint venture bought the stalled Red Lion Court scheme from Landsec for an undisclosed sum.
The £200m job, which has been renamed Row One, is set to be carried out by Mace after the firm beat Skanska to the deal before it was put on hold.
Another Landsec London office scheme stalled in the wake of its rethink is Hill House – also due to be built by Skanska – but Building understands no decision on what to do next has been made
Landsec declined to comment.
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