British Land gives itself a few more weeks to make procurement decision on £600m Euston Tower

British Land will make a decision on whether to open up bids on its Euston Tower scheme before a Camden council planning meeting on the job in just over five weeks’ time.

Lendlease, set to be renamed Bovis after being bought by US private equity firm Atlas Holdings, has been carrying out pre-construction work for more than a year.

But the developer has been sounding out Mace, Multiplex and Sir Robert McAlpine with all three making presentations about how they would build the job.

British Land’s decision to speak to others had been driven about uncertainty over whether Lendlease, put up for sale by its Australian parent last May, would be bought or not.

A decision on whether to stick with Lendlease or open the design and build job up to others will be made by British Land before the planning meeting on 20 March, a spokesperson for the developer confirmed. It had been planning to make one last month.

The work at Euston Tower, which has a £600m construction cost, will see the building stripped back to its core and increased in size from 320,000 sq ft to 500,000 sq ft. It will also retain the foundations and basement.

Refreshed proposals, which have seen the tower’s appearance become more straight than the previous slanted version, went in to Camden planners just before Christmas.

The existing block was built in 1970 and has been empty for more than three years.

Members of the project team include QS and project manager Gardiner & Theobald, executive architect Adamson, planning consultant Gerald Eve, M&E consultant Arup and sustainability consultants Buro Happold and GXN.

The latter is a sister firm of architect 3XN, the Danish practice which has drawn up the proposal for the revamped tower.

Meanwhile, British Land is hoping work on its 1 Appold Street scheme at Broadgate will begin in late summer.

The £220m job, which has not got a pre-let, is due to be built by Skanska and is being marketed at financial and legal firms. It has been designed by Piercy & Co.