The City of London Corporation has approved plans to refurbish the building at 65 Fleet Street into a new mixed-use scheme, that will deliver a wide range of additional benefits for local residents, workers and visitors.
Currently an underused office building, the site will be retrofitted and transformed into a professionally managed, student living accommodation, with over 850 rooms, set near to the London School of Economics and Kings College London. At the ground floor level of the new building, a visitor experience area will be created to support public educational programmes, that will connect Fleet Street’s printing heritage to future generations.
With the support of the City Corporation and in keeping with its ‘Destination City’ policy, the developer team of Dominus and Cheyne Capital have designed the new cultural experience in partnership with the St Bride Foundation, a local institution and the historic home of print and type design on Fleet Street. Soon to be accessible to the public seven days a week, the St Bride Foundation has curated an internationally significant collection of materials, celebrating the history of print, graphic design and typography.
The proposals for the surrounding area include new public access routes and public realm improvements around the local Whitefriars Crypt which is, at present, largely hidden to the public and only accessible via appointment with the building management. It is all that remains of the 13th-century Whitefriars Monastery, once home to the Carmelite Order of the White Friars, who used to own a large stretch of land between Fleet Street and the river Thames.
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Following the Planning Applications Sub Committee approval of the 65 Fleet Street proposals, there will be a number of public benefits, including a new pedestrian route through the heart of the historic sight and an enhanced courtyard space, that will enable inclusive access to and improved visibility of the crypt.
Public realm improvements as part of the proposals also extend to the continued refurbishment and extension of London’s oldest Irish drinking establishment, the Grade II listed Tipperary pub and supporting the local area by delivering vibrant active frontages onto Fleet Street and Bouverie Street.
Finally, in keeping with the City of London Corporation’s goal to reach net zero by 2040, 65 Fleet Street will achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’, with the development itself seeing the vast majority of its structure reused and retained, whilst becoming far more energy efficient.
Chairman of the City of London Corporation Planning and Transportation Committee, Shravan Joshi, said: “Once completed, the refurbished building at 65 Fleet Street will boast some of the highest sustainability credentials in the City, whilst accommodating the world’s best and brightest students and opening up an inclusive, new cultural space from which everyone can benefit. A planning approach that favours retrofitting not only enables us to attract new demographics to recently restored, characterful buildings, but it also maximises the productivity of the Square Mile’s limited space and does so in a way that retains embodied carbon, improves operational efficiency and celebrates our old buildings.”
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