The City of London Corporation yesterday (26 October) approved the plans for a new 21-storey office-led development and rejuvenation of a listed former newspaper headquarters at 120 Fleet Street.

The City Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee supported the plans by CO-RE, which include detaching the Grade II* listed Daily Express building from River Court. The latter will be replaced with the new tower which will offer in excess of 61,000 sqm of high-quality office floorspace.

The art deco Daily Express building will be transformed into a publicly accessible cultural destination with social and educational outreach. It will become home to a free publicly accessible landscaped public roof garden.

The development will enrich the local area with increased pedestrian permeability and public realm enhancements including pavement widening, tree planting and a new east-west route connecting Shoe Lane with Bride Street.

The scheme also represents an uplift in ground floor retail floorspace in the Fleet Street Principal Shopping Centre, with an increase in active frontage.

The new high quality development embeds health and wellbeing practices including unique south facing landscaped terraces for office occupiers. It also encourages active travel with an innovative ‘Cycle House’ with 85 short stay and 149 long stay cycle parks, maintenance stations, a café/retail offer as well as a concierge service dedicated to cyclists including cargo bike delivery.

Chair of the City of London Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee, Alastair Moss, said: “This development is yet another example of how the City can balance the constant demand for new office space, whilst maintaining due respect to the Square Mile’s unique history.

“Fleet Street is renowned as the former home of London’s newspaper industry and this development takes care to rejuvenate the old Daily Express building to the next chapter of its rich history. Importantly, it will also allow for a new, high-quality office to be constructed in this key strategic part of the City.

“Developments like this, coupled with the undeniable return of the buzz of City workers, continue to give us unwavering confidence that the Square Mile’s recovery will go from strength-to-strength, as Fleet Street re-invents itself as a key part of the City.”

Director at CO-RE, David Hutton, said: “We are obviously delighted to receive planning permission from the City of London Corporation for 120 Fleet Street. This is great news for central London’s office market generally and more specifically for occupiers looking for the best space for their employees in terms of sustainability, active travel and health and wellbeing. 120 Fleet Street has a flexible design that allows for various uses by a diverse mix of potential tenants. Terraces are a signature of CO-RE developments and 120 Fleet Street’s outside space will have unrivalled views across central London.

“After spending many years behind closed curtains, we are excited to be able to return the Daily Express Building to its former glory and open up its stunning art deco foyer to the general public. The Daily Express Building will be a truly public space through a number of potential cultural opportunities and its new roof garden will provide breath-taking views of St Paul’s, St Brides and beyond.”