Gushing endorsement for major revamp of abandoned Mayfair department store

By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter

Approval has been granted for new offices and a rooftop garden above the now-abandoned Fenwick department store in Mayfair.

Westminster City councillors voted unanimously on Tuesday to back Lazari Investments’ plan to replace the department store with high-grade retail and office space.

Planning committee chairwoman Ruth Bush was effusive in her backing of the scheme.

She said: “I’m very impressed with this. It’s very uplifting to get an application like this, with the work that has gone into it and the imagination that has gone into it, the engagement with people around the area and the opportunities for people in Westminster and around for employment. It’s lovely, it’s great.”

Councillors expressed concerns over the bulk of the proposed new build but praised Lazari Investments for retaining 75 per cent of the existing historic façades and half of the existing building.

Owner Len Lazari told councillors the existing building was not suitable for modern-day retailing and said the different levels of flooring made it inaccessible for some.

He said: “Over 100 years, Fenwick’s organic expansion across six buildings resulted in the department store with 37 different levels.”

The proposal will now head to the the Mayor of London’s desk, where he will have 14 days to approve or reject it.

The proposal seeks to partially demolish the New Bond Street and Brook Street store and have it ‘jacked up’ with new floor slabs and façades to create new office and retail space.

The bottom two levels will be developed into ‘high quality’ retail space, while the second to ninth floors will be dedicated office space and a lavish roof garden above it.

There will also be external terraces replete with greenery from the fourth to ninth floors.  The proposal would see a 7,600 square metre reduction in retail space.

In a council report, officers wrote: “The proposal will provide an appropriate combination of modern retail and office accommodation that accords with the relevant London Plan and City Plan policies and is therefore considered to be acceptable.”

The site consists of Victorian buildings that were until recently owned and occupied by the Fenwick department store, which began trading from its New Bond Street store in 1891.

Fenwick received planning permission in 2020 for a similar significant extension to the property, but changes in the retail sector, compounded by Covid, meant the store was unable to continue operating at the site and sold it on to Lazari Investments Limited in late 2022.

Pictured top: A CGI of the proposed new office at the site of the former Fenwick store in Mayfair (Picture: Westminster City/Foster + Partners)