{"id":445289,"date":"2026-02-25T19:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T19:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/445289\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T19:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T19:03:11","slug":"hok-gets-go-ahead-for-revised-deep-retrofit-of-1950s-city-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/445289\/","title":{"rendered":"HOK gets go-ahead for revised \u2018deep retrofit\u2019 of 1950s City office"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u2018deep retrofit\u2019 of Fleet House was first granted planning consent by the City of London in January 2023<\/a>, but was resubmitted in 2024 to increase the proposed buildings height from eight to nine stories and remodel the top floors to create new spaces for both occupiers and the public.<\/p>\n

Drawn up for Brussels-based developer Atenor<\/a>, the scheme takes a fabric-first, low-carbon approach which retains 73 per cent of the existing structure while adding a further 3,428m\u00b2 of space.<\/p>\n

The latest designs will see the creation of a 162m2 south-facing roof terrace and garden at the top of the building, which will be publicly accessible outside office hours, with views towards St Bride\u2019s Church, St Paul\u2019s Cathedral, the Palace of Westminster and across the wider City.<\/p>\n

The revisions to the original consented scheme were made in response to \u2018shifting market conditions and construction cost pressures\u2019, according to planning consultant Lichfields.<\/p>\n

The development will involve the demolition of the 1950s St Bride\u2019s Tavern pub, which is currently unoccupied.<\/p>\n

The pub, behind the block at 8-12 New Bridge Street, had already been earmarked for demolition in previously consented plans by Pringle Brandon Perkins + Will in 2014<\/a>. That unrealised \u00a320 million scheme would have seen both buildings replaced by all-new structures.<\/p>\n

A \u2018re-provided public house\u2019 on the ground floor and part-basement level are included in the plans. The application also features a new pedestrian priority route connecting Bride Lane and Bridewell Place.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Existing Fleet House building (left), newly consented HOK design (right), credit HOK<\/p>\n

Ian Anderson, senior director at Lichfields, said: \u2018With a number of City office schemes being revisited or delayed, the priority here was to secure a permission that could actually be built, while improving what the development gives back to the City.<\/p>\n

\u2018By working closely with Atenor and the City of London Corporation, we\u2019ve shown that a deep-retrofit scheme can respond to viability pressures, respect heritage sensitivities and still raise the bar on public access, sustainability and design quality.\u2019<\/p>\n

A new \u2018pocket park\u2019 will also be created within the improved public realm Bridewell Place, alongside with a \u2018dynamic public art installation\u2019 in Bridewell Passage.<\/p>\n

Since the initial consent for the scheme in 2023, Gensler\u2019s 10 storey, 100 New Bridge office building has been consented in a plot directly opposite the site of Fleet House. HOK argued that the new office block justified the extension of Fleet House by one storey, as views of of St Paul\u2019s Cathedral would now be partly obscured in the original proposal.<\/p>\n

Project data<\/p>\n

Location 8-12 New Bridge Street, London EC4
Local authority\u00a0City of London Corporation
Type of project\u00a0Offices
Client\u00a0Fleet House Development Ltd (wholly owned by Atenor)
Architect\u00a0HOK
Landscape architect\u00a0HOK
Planning consultant\u00a0Lichfields
Structural engineer\u00a0AKT II
M&E consultant\u00a0Hoare Lea
Quantity surveyor\u00a0Core 5
Principal designer\u00a0ORSA
Gross internal floor area m\u00b2\u00a07,700m\u00b2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u2018deep retrofit\u2019 of Fleet House was first granted planning consent by the City of London in January…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,145048,13659,26588,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-445289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-hok","tag-office","tag-retrofit","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445289","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=445289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}