Make-designed office scheme in the City thought to be worth £225m in total - the largest in London

Contractor Mace has secured the job to build the £225m Make-designed headquarters for bank UBS, which will replace part of the Broadgate complex at Liverpool Street Station.

Mace is thought to have secured the 1.2 million ft2 construction management job, set to be the largest office project in the capital, after negotiation with the owners of the current buildings, British Land and Blackstone.

When complete, 5 Broadgate will be 14 storeys high and will include four trading floors for 750 people, housing 6,000 UBS employees in total.

Mace declined to reveal the price of its contract, but Building understands that the construction cost of the whole project is likely to be in the region of £225m. As well as construction management, Mace’s contract will include the firm’s QS arm Sense being used as cost consultant.

The development is one of the most contentious in the capital, with attempts to list the current eighties buildings at 4 and 6 Broadgate, the brainchild of Sir Stuart Lipton and the late architect Peter Foggo, only finally failing in June. Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt rejected calls to list the building despite Lipton describing Make’s plan as “the worst large building we have seen in the City for 20 years.”

The scheme is the fourth major commission Mace has secured from British Land, following on from the partial fit-out of the Broadgate Tower, the £220m construction of Ropemaker Place, and shell and core construction management at 51 Lime Street.

Mace will bring in Jonathan Foster, the director responsible for the construction of Ropemaker, to head the scheme.

Watkins Payne will be building services engineer, Buro Happold has been appointed structural engineer, and M3 will be project manager.
Piling work will start in the new year, with demolition having already commenced on 4 and 6 Broadgate. Gareth Lewis, chief operating officer for construction at Mace, said: “We welcome the challenge of working with them [British Land] to deliver another iconic building that sets new standards in green design and construction.”

The project is targeted to achieve a BREEAM “excellent” rating, and will include the largest number of solar PV panels on a commercial building in London, a green roof and rainwater harvesting.

Topics