The Crown Estate is considering a £250m comprehensive refurbishment of one of the West End’s tallest buildings.
It has appointed Stanhope as its manager to revamp the 18-storey New Zealand House at 80 Haymarket, SW1.
The New Zealand government is close to agreeing a deal with the Crown to surrender the long lease of the around 230,000 sq ft complex – home to the country’s High Commission – and is now considering its future occupational options, which could include relocating to another part of the Crown’s London estate.
Early stages
Oliver Smith, head of the Crown Estate’s St James’s portfolio, said: “We are at the very early stages of working with New Zealand government to explore proposals to refurbish the Grade II-listed New Zealand House.
The High Commission occupies around 50,000 sq ft. Other tenants in the building include agriculture business Olam Europe, the Korea Tourism Organisation. Rileys Sports Bar occupies the leisure space at street level.
Rents at the building average around only £40 per sq ft for the dated space, according to Radius Data Exchange.
However, a wholesale refurbishment could result in rents in the building trebling. Tishman Speyer’s nearby redevelopment of the former Economist Building at 23-27 St James’s Street, SW1, commands rents of more than £150 per sq ft for the top floors.
New Zealand House was Grade II-listed in 1995 and as such a refurbishment will not be straightforward. It was last refurbished in 1992 prior to the listing.
Close to cultural points of interest
The building adjoins the Royal Opera Arcade on Pall Mall and Her Majesty’s Theatre on Haymarket, which is owned and operated by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s the Really Useful Theatres Group and has been home to his musical The Phantom of the Opera since 1986.
The New Zealand Government acquired the lease to the site in the early 1950s and subsequently redeveloped it. The Robert Matthew, Johnson Marshall & Partners-designed building was completed and opened by the Queen in 1963. It comprises four podium levels, as well as the main tower, which includes a terrace surrounding the top-floor penthouse.
According to Historic England, it was the first major office tower in central London to be air conditioned and the first to be fully glazed on all sides.
Stanhope declined to comment.
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