Construction firm appointed to transform former Oxford Street House of Fraser
Publica Properties Establishment has appointed McLaren Construction to carry out a £132m refurbishment and extension of the former House of Fraser store at 318 Oxford Street.
The ex-department store is set to be repurposed as a 365,973 sq ft mixed-use development, featuring retail on the ground floor, office space, two restaurants, and a gym.
McLaren will be responsible for repairing the building’s Portland stone façade, reinstating architectural features, and completing the Chapel Place façade.
The 6th and 7th floors, originally designed with low ceilings for back-of-house uses, will also be reconstructed with the addition of a new terrace. A new 8th-floor extension will be utilised as a top-floor restaurant with a terrace. Public realm improvements will include wider footpaths with new paving to indicate the new layout and entrance points into the building. Decorative paving will also feature along Chapel Place.
The project’s development manager, Joseph McNeil, said on behalf of Publica Properties Establishment: “The project has been a fantastic opportunity to work with McLaren Construction on a truly ‘retro-first’ approach, bringing this building back to life with the minimum whole-life embodied carbon impact.”
McLaren Construction’s London and South managing director, Darren Gill, added: “More of these asset repurposing projects are coming through to the market. These are often familiar buildings in prominent locations. They present an opportunity to improve resilience through a variety of new uses – not just for the building, but for the area too.”
“The construction industry will increasingly need the skills to repurpose historic buildings. It’s essential if we want to balance the creation of quality spaces with reduced carbon footprints. McLaren’s investment in this expertise is paying off with a raft of high profile cut and carve projects in central London.”