Billed as largest of its kind in UK, Clerkenwell scheme set to be bn

McLaren is set to move onto site soon to start work on a timber frame office building being billed as the UK’s largest of its kind after the central London scheme was given a £100m funding boost.

Called Xylo, the nine-storey scheme will be built at the junction of Gray’s Inn Road and Clerkenwell Road in London’s Clerkenwell area. The value of McLaren’s deal, which it has already signed, is believed to be around £80m.

Erith has been carrying out demolition and groundworks at the site which used to be retail including a bank and phone shop.

xylo

The building has been designed by Piercy & Co

But the site has been empty the past few months with that now set to change after developer Global Holdings Group struck a £105m deal with Dutch bank ING to bankroll the work.

ING said the so-called green loan “has been structured as a green facility, with proceeds earmarked specifically to support the project’s environmental objectives”.

Samuel Ellis, head of UK Real Estate at ING, said: “This is the kind of project where sustainable finance genuinely matters. This financing supports a development that materially reduces carbon while delivering high‑quality workspace. That combination is rare and it’s exactly where we want to deploy capital.”

Xylo will run across 97,000sq ft and include 3,640sq ft town hall space with bar, lounge and auditorium space, as well as a 3,800sq ft rooftop garden, five landscaped terraces along with cycle parking and shower facilities.

The building’s glulam beams and cross-laminated timber structure are being supplied by William Hare subsidiary Hybrid Structures.

Others working on the job, which has been designed by Piercy & Co, include cost consultant Pryme Four, project manager Avison Young, structural engineer Heyne Tillett Steel and M&E consultant Max Fordham.

Topics