Former New Bond Street Fenwick store to be turned into retail and office spaces

Westminster City Council has granted planning permission to Lazari Investments to redevelop buildings on New Bond Street which once housed department store retailer Fenwick.

The property investment firm acquired the buildings in January 2023 from Fenwick, which had launched a sale process for the site early 2022 and ultimately shut its doors in the first quarter of 2024.

Now, however, Lazari and its collaborator Foster + Partners, which designed the redevelopment scheme, have been given the green light to repurpose the buildings, in a plan that is scheduled for completion at the end of 2026.

The duo are looking to reduce the retail space to just the ground and first floors, while changing the second to ninth floors into offices which will have a Brook Street entrance. This area will also be provided with internal and external landscaped terraces and winter gardens, in a bid to increase wellness and well-being.

According to the companies, the scheme will retain over 50 percent of the existing structure and around 75 percent of the historic facades that are to be “sensitively lifted through innovative engineering to align with the floorplates above” to create four two-storey retail units.

In a release, Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, said: “Our design is about revitalising the historic Fenwick buildings, preserving the majority of the existing structure and giving the buildings a new lease of life.

“The rich history and tradition of New Bond Street is reinforced through a revitalised street front, and the design breathes new life into the upper levels by introducing state-of-the-art office space. This ambitious project will act as a catalyst, injecting energy into this part of the city and underscoring the area's global presence.”