Skanska ready to go on £260m London scheme

Skanska is set start construction on Land Securities £260m New Ludgate mixed-use development in the City of London.

Land Securities said this morning that Skanska would start work in August on the 379,000 sq ft scheme at 1 & 2 New Ludgate, which comprises two distinct buildings united by a new public piazza.

It is understood that the main construction job is worth £109m. Skanska is understood to have beaten Mace, Lend Lease and Sir Robert McAlpine to the job.

The scheme is designed by architects Fletcher Priest and Sauerbruch Hutton.

There will be 33,000 sq ft of restaurant and retail facilities at ground and basement levels as well as improved pedestrian links and new public areas.

Demolition work is already complete and construction is scheduled to last until April 2015.

The news comes after Building revealed last week that Skanska was set to win the £500m job to build the Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed Scalpel tower for US insurance firm W.R Berkley, having beaten off competition from rival Mace.

Colette O’Shea, Land Securities Head of Development, London said: “Our decision to commence the speculative development of 1 & 2 New Ludgate reflects our confidence both in the City office market, where we believe supply of new space will be constrained in 2015, and in the quality of the attractive and highly efficient office space we are creating.”