Developer working up £250m plan to overhaul 1970s Hill House block in City

Three firms are understood to have prequalified for the chance to work up bids for a new office scheme being developed by Landsec in the City of London.

Building understands that Mace, Multiplex and Skanska have all made the cut for the job called Hill House, a 1970s block on the corner of Shoe Lane and Little New Street in the New Street Square area of the Square Mile.

Current tenants include the Shoe Lane library with the current eight-storey scheme having been designed by Ronald Fielding Partnership and opened in 1979.

hill house

Hill House was completed at the end of the 1970s

The new build job, which is expected to cost at least £250m, has been on firms’ radars for several months now although it is not expected to start until 2026 at the earliest.

Described by architectural historians as “an office block with windows deeply set into a moulded concrete frame, and a pronounced stair-tower” the building is 170,000 sq ft with Landsec saying in its 2022 annual report that an overhaul will create a “future redevelopment opportunity and a significant value uplift across the overall New Street Square estate”.

In its 2023 report, the developer said the job, which has not been submitted for planning, is at the design stage with the amount of space being planned at the new scheme doubling to 350,000 sq ft.

Landsec’s current jobs in London include the £400m Timber Square project in Southwark, designed by Bennetts Associates, which is set to be built by Mace after the firm replaced Laing O’Rourke earlier this year.

And McLaren will also begin work to refurbish a 1960s office block called Portland House in London’s Victoria under a new £380m plan drawn up by Buckley Gray Yeoman.

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