Winner expected over summer with construction set to start next year
Three firms are expected to receiver tenders in the next few weeks for the chance to price the scheme to extend the British Library.
Japanese developer Mitsui Fudosan has promised to start work next year on the £1.1bn scheme with completion scheduled for 2032.
The Tokyo-based real estate firm has taken full ownership of SMBL, the scheme’s development partner which had previously been a joint venture between itself and Stanhope, with Stanhope retained as development manager.
Teams from Mace, Multiplex and Sir Robert McAlpine will receive bid documents by next month for the job which has a construction value of around £600m.
It is being let as a construction management scheme with a winner due to be appointed over the summer.
One of the biggest construction jobs in the capital in the coming years, it will add a 100,000 sq m groundscraper containing office and library space to the side of the grade I-listed 1970s landmark.
Less than 10% of the new 12-storey building will contain library space, with the rest reserved for offices targeted primarily towards life sciences occupiers and a new headquarters for the Alan Turing Institute.
The job has been designed RSHP and Arup with others working on the project including QS T&T Alinea and landscape architect DSDHA.
It is understood that 5,000 sq m of underground passageways on the site intended as safeguarding for the future Crossrail 2 project will be funded by Mitsui Fudosan. The tunnels and shaft, which run seven storeys beneath the site, were part of a deal agreed between the developer, Stanhope and Transport for London to secure the site.
The scheme also includes the controversial demolition of several buildings to the north of the main library, including the 2007 British Library Centre for Conservation, designed by Long & Kentish.
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