Press Release
WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL APPROVE THE CROWN ESTATE’S ONE MILLION SQ FT QUADRANT PROPOSALS ON REGENT STREET
14 December 2007
Westminster City Council’s Planning sub-Committee yesterday approved The Crown Estate’s development proposals for the mixed use regeneration of the Regent Palace Hotel, Café Royal and Quadrant Arcade blocks, at the southern end of Regent Street, just off Piccadilly Circus.
Known collectively as the Quadrant, the redevelopment is a key milestone in The Crown Estate’s £500 million Regent Street investment programme.
Under the proposals:
- the Café Royal block will be restored to its former glory as a five/six star hotel
- the Regent Palace Hotel block will offer new retail, residential and office accommodation, and a new cultural quarter, including a Visit London ‘tourist showcase’. The historic art-deco Atlantic Bar and Grill and Titanic Restaurant will be preserved
- the Quadrant Arcade block will offer an exciting new retail mix in a preserved and improved Quadrant Arcade, with the upper-levels providing high-quality office space.
The Quadrant will revive and improve a 1 million sq ft built area in the heart of the West End, creating a 44,000 sq ft public realm area; after Trafalgar Square, this will represent the most significant addition to London’s public realm seen in the West End over the last 30 years.
Over the years the Quadrant buildings, their uses and the surrounding streets have degenerated. The streets are now unappealing back-street service yards, and the buildings are generally used for late night drinking in pubs and night clubs.
The Quadrant proposals address these problems in part through public realm creation, including the pedestrianisation of Glasshouse Street; made possible by the introduction of a new 12,000 sq ft, off-street service area into the Regent Palace Hotel block. Servicing both the Regent Palace Hotel block and the Café Royal block, this will enable Glasshouse Street to become traffic free, facilitating the creation of the planned cultural and retail quarter.
David Shaw, Head of Regent Street Strategy and Development said: “These proposals seek to re-establish and regenerate the area, reinforce the strength of the local economy and restore the reputations of these historic buildings in a manner synonymous with our Regent Street brand values of quality, heritage style & success. The Crown Estate welcomes the Westminster City Council Planning Committee resolution to grant planning consent for our Quadrant proposals and we will now work together with the statutory authorities to conclude the consent, in line normal planning processes.”
As part of The Crown Estate’s commitment to environmental sustainability, a central energy centre will be developed within the scheme using tri-generation. The first of its kind in central London, this will be fuelled in part by hydrogen, rather than diesel and will service the Regent Palace Hotel and Café Royal blocks.
CB Richard Ellis planning and SJ Berwin advised The Crown Estate on this scheme. The Café Royal and Quadrant Arcade block proposals were developed in partnership with Allies and Morrison and the Regent Palace Hotel block proposals with Dixon Jones.
Further Information
Tenants
Regent Street Redevelopment
|
