Three in race for deal to give London Stock Exchange £200m makeover

Three firms have returned bids for a £200m deal to refurbish and extend the headquarters of the London Stock Exchange at Paternoster Square in the Square Mile.

Building understands Bovis, Wates and Structure Tone all sent bids back yesterday (Thursday) for the work, which is being masterminded by Oxford Properties.

Bovis, when it was known as Bovis Lend Lease, built the existing scheme called King Edward Court, a seven-storey building designed by Eric Parry which was completed in 2003.

The Wates bid is understood to be being led by its Fit Out business, headed up by Lee Phillips, while Structure Tone is jointly led in the UK by one of Phillips’ predecessors at ISG’s fit out business, Matt Blowers.

The revamp, drawn up by three-year-old London practice Carter Gregson Gray, will include a new double-height glazed lobby designed to exhibit the market’s daily opening and closing ceremonies to spectators on Paternoster Square.

It will also see the addition of several roof level extensions including a new double-height events pavilion, a single-storey roof terrace pavilion and a single-storey extension to the corner of the building.

Substantial outdoor space would be added to the site including a new roof terrace providing some of the City’s closest views of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, along with a series of balconies at levels three, four and five facing Paternoster Square

Oxford Properties and developer Hines are the building’s long-term leaseholders, with the former acting as the scheme’s main applicant.

Oxford Properties said the intention of the scheme, which has been developed over the past year, is to update the building to current and projected office standards as it reaches the end of its first 25-year lease.

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), which is understood to be planning to move into the neighbouring Allies & Morrison-designed St Martin’s Court for two years while the refurbishment is carried out, has appointed its own project team for the fit-out of King Edward Court.

LSEG’s team includes MCM as lead architect, RLB on costs, Cushman & Wakefield as project manager and Alan Baxter on structures.

Oxford Properties’ team for the wider refurbishment includes G&T on costs, WSP on structures, Newmark on planning, M3 Consulting as project manager, Turley on ESG, Velocity on transport, Arup on facades and Studio GB on landscape. Watkins Payne is M&E and sustainability consultant.

A winner on the deal is expected early in the new year.