Asset Management
Strategic Advisory
Occupational Advisory
Development Consultancy
Capital Markets
Every great estate has an origin story. This one began in 2001 with a simple question: how could the City compete with Canary Wharf?
Introduction / History
By the late 1990s, Canary Wharf was fundamentally changing London’s office market.
With vast development sites capable of delivering Manhattan-style office towers on efficient rectangular floorplates, it offered occupiers something the City of London simply couldn’t. Meanwhile, the City’s medieval street pattern and fragmented ownership meant assembling sites of any meaningful scale was becoming increasingly difficult.
Recognising the threat, the City of London Corporation appointed us to advise on how it could respond.
Our recommendation was simple: if the City couldn’t create large development sites within its historic boundaries, it should look immediately beyond them.
Working alongside the City, we identified two strategic opportunities. The first ultimately became the Blossom Street Estate, now successfully redeveloped by British Land. The second was the Worship Street Estate.
Over the following 26 years, the City patiently assembled more nearly a dozen individual buildings, creating one of the largest strategically assembled estates on the fringe of the City.
