Developer looking to scale back commercial jobs in favour of push into residential

An office scheme on the banks of the river Thames in the middle of London being developed by Landsec has been put on hold.

Landsec bought the 1980s red-brick office complex, next door to the former FT headquarters in Southwark, 20 years ago and had plans to build 230,000 sq ft of workspace along with retail and new public space.

Called Red Lion Court, the Bankside scheme has been designed by Danish architect BIG with the work, which was given planning in spring 2023, originally due to be finished in 2027.

View of the proposals for Red Lion Court from the Thames

Source: BIG

View of BIG鈥檚 proposals for Red Lion Court from the Thames. The redesigned FT building is on the right of the render, with the Anchor pub on the left

Two firms, Mace and Skanska, were chasing the job with Mace understood to have landed the work before it was put on hold.

Landsec has said it is scaling back the amount of office work it carries out, having unveiled plans for a 拢2bn sell-off of parts of its office-led assets over the next five years to fund an expansion into residential 鈥� with speculation growing that Red Lion Court is part of the office portfolio Landsec wants to sell off.

A Landsec spokesperson said: 鈥淲e can鈥檛 comment on market speculation but we always take a phased approach to development. The first phase of Red Lion Court, demolition, is well underway and further enabling works will continue over the coming months.

鈥淎s we said at our most recent half year results, we don鈥檛 plan to commit to any new development for the remainder of this year given the sizeable amount of activity we already have on site.鈥�

In its interim results, published last November, the firm said: 鈥淚n terms of our future pipeline, we do not envisage making any new commitments to start schemes for the remainder of the financial year, as we focus our investment activity in the near term on major retail.鈥�

Skanska is on a PCSA for Landsec鈥檚 拢250m Hill House office scheme in the City, which it won a year ago, with main construction work not expected to start until next year.

Under Landsec鈥檚 plans for Red Lion Court, over 45% of the site will be publicly accessible, including an expanded Thames Path, a pocket park and community garden plus affordable office space, flexible retail, a bike repair centre and wellness centre.

Others working on the scheme include cost consultant Gardiner & Theobald, project manager CPC, M&E engineer Hilson Moran, structural engineer AKT II and sustainability engineer Arup.

Among the schemes Landsec is working on in the capital are the 拢400m Timber Square mixed-use development in Southwark, being built by Mace, and Thirty High, a 拢380m scheme to refurbish a 1960s office block called Portland House in London鈥檚 Victoria, which is being carried out by McLaren. Both are set to complete by the end of this year.

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