Aviva eyes redevelopment of City site at Fenchurch Street with plans due in next year

London developer CO-RE has won the competition to redevelop at City site in the eastern cluster of the Square Mile.

The scheme at 130 Fenchurch Street, which is being funded by Aviva Investors, has been on the blocks for several years with plans for a 17-storey block initially drawn up by Farshid Moussavi Architecture.

According to the architect’s website, the project team included T&T Alinea, then Alinea, as QS, while Gardiner & Theobald was project manager with WSP on structures and Hilson Moran the M&E consultant.

Moussavi’s plan was to replace the current 1950s building called Fountain House with a mid-rise tower and 280,000 sq ft of grade A space.

But Aviva had a rethink and brought in 8 Bishopsgate architect Wilkinson Eyre four years ago but since then the job has stalled.

Now the firm has appointed CO-RE to mastermind fresh proposals for the job with the scheme set to go into City of London planners early next year.

No details around height or size have been released but the address is in the heart of the eastern cluster of towers which include RSHP’s Leadenhall Building and the Walkie Talkie tower at 20 Fenchurch Street, designed by the late Rafael Viñoly.

Aviva’s head of real estate investment, James Stevens, said: “We are pleased to have appointed CO—RE, as part of an experienced team, to take forward the redevelopment of 130 Fenchurch Street, an ambitious project which shows our continued commitment to the City and its long-term prospects.”

Aviva’s portfolio of schemes in the City include One Liverpool Street, designed by Eric Parry and being built by Mace, and 101 Moorgate, also being built by Mace, and designed by John Robertson Architects.

CO-RE is on site with the construction of Lansdowne House, which will become the new European headquarters for US asset manager Blackstone, and which has been designed by AHMM and is being built by Mace.

But its scheme at 120 Fleet Street, due to be built by Lendlease, has been stalled because of funding problems while its redevelopment of the ITV Studios at 72 Upper Ground on London’s South Bank, and also due to be built by Lendlease, has been hit by a series of planning wrangles with a High Cout hearing into communities secretary Michael Gove’s decision to give it the green light earlier this year being challenged in October.