{"id":298563,"date":"2025-12-04T13:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T13:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/298563\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T13:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T13:02:09","slug":"oxford-street-tower-lined-up-for-cathedral-inspired-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/298563\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxford Street tower lined up for cathedral-inspired rebuild"},"content":{"rendered":"

A familiar Oxford Street landmark, once home to the London College of Fashion and British Home Stores, could be in line for a rather unexpected reinvention \u2014 a rebuild inspired by medieval cathedral architecture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Currently
\n\"\"<\/a>Proposed (c) Planning documents \/ developer<\/p>\n

The original complex was completed in 1958 under the plot-ratio rules introduced in 1947, which encouraged taller structures set back behind lower street-frontages. Hence, the classic mid-century \u201cpodium with tower\u201d form as seen here. Shortly afterwards, the southern block, known as the \u201cSouth Bar\u201d and used by the London College of Fashion, was added in response to the London County Council\u2019s push for mixed-use development on the site.<\/p>\n

Also, as part of the deal, the college received its share of the building for a nominal rent, but it is now part of the University of the Arts London, and\u00a0moved to Stratford in 2023.<\/p>\n

For decades, British Home Stores occupied the ground floor as its flagship store, until the chain collapsed in 2016. Since then, the retail units have hosted a revolving cast of unremarkable tenants, while the offices above have grown tired, partially empty, and in need of refurbishment.<\/p>\n

The site\u2019s owner now proposes retaining and refurbishing the tower, while demolishing most of the podium, including the former college block. That structure was built with lightweight materials so it could perch atop the podium, but it hasn\u2019t aged well. Columns also dominate the retail floor to support the building above, but modern buildings don\u2019t need as many thanks to stronger materials.<\/p>\n

So the developer plans to demolish the retail podium and refurbish the tower, which they expect will still allow them to retain about half the existing building fabric.<\/p>\n

The medieval inspiration comes in the design of the replacement office and retail floors, which will use a modern funicular floor structure<\/a> \u2014 effectively a contemporary take on the fan-vaulted ceilings of Gothic cathedrals. The technology significantly reduces the amount of concrete needed, while early concept images show the vaulted undersides left exposed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>(c) Planning documents \/ developer<\/p>\n

As a result, office workers will find themselves tapping away beneath modern cathedral vaults, echoing \u2014 however faintly \u2014 the scribes and monks who once worked under the real thing.<\/p>\n

While that will be internal, depending on how the office floors are used, they may be visible from outside as well, which will be a nicer sight than a conventional office suspended ceiling.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>(c) Planning documents \/ developer<\/p>\n

Another potential improvement is that there could \u2013 possibly \u2013 be a public access to the 17th-19th floors as part of a cultural offering. That does mean food and drink, so nice views for the paying diners. Whether the public will be able to pop up for free will be argued in the planning process.<\/p>\n

Westminster Council is due to discuss the plans at its planning committee meeting on 9th December.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, although most of us familiar with the area think of this as an Oxford Street facing building, its official address is actually 33 Cavendish Square.<\/p>\n

And I really hope it was a typo in the placemaking section of the planning application, and that they\u2019re not actually planning to call it \u201c33 Cav Square\u201d, because that level of faux-youthful branding would be how-do-you-do-fellow-kids in steel and stone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A familiar Oxford Street landmark, once home to the London College of Fashion and British Home Stores, could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-298563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}