British Land appoints McLaren for design and build contract

McLaren Construction has been selected by developer British Land to deliver a new office scheme at 75 Davies Street, located above West One Shopping Centre and Bond Street Underground Station on Oxford Street.

The £99 million Design and Build contract, combining new build and retrofit, will deliver 93,517 sq ft (NIA) of premium grade commercial space over seven storeys. It provides three additional office floors, an expanded office reception area, cycle storage and shower facilities, a courtyard on the second and third floors, terraces on most other office floors, a new core and plant rooms on level eight.

The West One building dates from the late 1970s, when the first phase of the Jubilee Line was built. It currently has three levels of retail from basement to first floor and four levels of offices from second to fifth floors. The new configuration by architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris has two levels of retail on basement and ground floors and offices on floors one to seven.

The redevelopment delivers an increase in office space of around 88 per cent, from 49,801 sq ft (NIA) to 93,517 sq ft (NIA) and will target NABERS 5*, BREEAM Excellent, EPC A and WELL Enabled.

McLaren’s team will be working above a live underground station, serving the Central and Jubilee Lines and providing an interchange for the Elizabeth Line. Careful coordination with Transport for London, detailed logistical planning, off-peak construction scheduling and vibration monitoring will avoid service disruptions.

The new design minimises the embodied carbon of the refurbished building by retaining around 60 per cent of the existing concrete structure and uses a lightweight steel structure from the second floor upwards to add more floors and maximise the net internal area.

From the second to fifth floors, the projecting bays of the outward-facing façade will be clad in a fluted, glazed terracotta, chosen partly for lower embodied carbon than alternative materials. The floors below are framed with dark terrazzo and bronze-finished aluminium, while the set-back seventh floor and eighth-floor plant are clad in white pre-cast terrazzo. The simpler courtyard façade has metal cladding.

The second-floor courtyard will be made a more attractive place and will be upgraded with breakout spaces. The second-floor plantroom, which sits in the courtyard, will be enclosed with tiered planting, contributing to 11,872 sq ft of green roofs and walls. The sloping roof light above the retail atrium is redesigned to be more attractive for shoppers beneath it and office tenants looking out on it.

The contract will call on McLaren’s experience of working above rail infrastructure – most recently above Bank underground station at 10 King William Street, above Angel underground station at Angel Square, above Oxford Circus underground station at 214 Oxford Street, above the Central Line at 150 Holborn and above the rail lines into London Victoria for The Hub.

The constrained urban site presents significant logistical challenges, especially in managing construction traffic and minimising disruption to the surrounding area. These are being addressed through a detailed construction management plan, including just-in-time deliveries, temporary road diversions where required and clear pedestrian routes. McLaren’s preparations take account of the pedestrianisation of this part of Oxford Street, which is due to be completed by September 2026.

Darren Gill, Managing Director for London & South at McLaren Construction, commented: “All the technical challenges of this project – reusing an existing structure, working around commercial tenants and above a busy underground station – are increasingly familiar as Oxford Street reinvents itself and developers strive to provide quality modern space without wholesale demolition.”

Work is due to complete in the first quarter of 2029.