In fine fettle

What is clear is that the City office market continues in fine fettle, despite the woes of the national economy, with new developments and a flood of investment deals. The City of London has given planning permission for four new schemes, including greater height for Great Portland Estates’ and Brookfield Office Properties’ 950,000 sq.ft.100 Bishopsgate scheme. A similarly sized scheme is planned by Hines for 100 Cheapside, where Canary Wharf Group was originally the front runner, while Rockspring and Chesterfield Asset

Management have planning for a slightly smaller scheme at Centurion House, EC3. Rockspring’s Richard Bains said: “Since acquiring the project last year, we have drawn up ambitious plans to create an entirely new ground up development which will appeal to a wide range of city occupiers.” The largest development getting planning permission was City Site Estates’ 11 storey scheme of 12,077 sq.metres (130,000 sq.ft.) at 51 Eastcheap, EC3. One scheme that already has planning permission is Hammerson’s £485 million Principal Place, E1 project. Now Hammerson is seeking a partner for the 50 storey residential element of the 73,856 sq.metres (795,000 sq.ft.) development which will have 243 private and 56 affordable units.