House of Fraser building that neighbours controversial M&S store is to be rebuilt

The former House of Fraser outlet on Oxford Street is to be refurbished, while the controversial flagship M&S store located down the road is due to be flattened.

The iconic Marks & Spencer building was built in 1938 and became a landmark in the world-famous shopping district.

But it has become the centre of controversy after plans were revealed that it is to be flattened and replaced by a nine-story office building and retail space.

Meanwhile, just a mile and a half away, the House of Fraser, built in 1937, is to be refurbished with work projected to be finished by 2025.

The House of Fraser building will include a gym with a swimming pool in the basement and the project is estimated to cost £132million. Pictured, a visualisation of how the finished project will look

Both the House of Fraser and the Marks & Spencer stores were built in the 1930s

Developer Publica Properties is turning the store into a mixed-use scheme.

It will have retail in the basement, ground and first-floor levels with offices above.

The building will include a gym with a swimming pool in the basement and the project is estimated to cost £132million.

The architect is Studio PDP and the structural design is the responsibility of Civic Engineers.

Simon Bennett, associate director at the engineer, told building.co.uk: 'Fundamentally, this is a big, heavy, robust, good-quality building with a useable grid.

Marks & Spencer building was built in 1938 and became a landmark in the world-famous shopping district

In November 2021, Westminister Council granted planning for the redevelopment of two major department stores on London's Oxford Street

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Marks & Spencer WINS High Court battle against the Government over plans to flatten its flagship Oxford Street store and replace it with nine-storey office and retail space

'We talked to the client about demolishing and rebuilding it, we talked about facade retention.

'But, because it is a building of merit in a conservation area, complete demolition would probably have been challenging [from the planning perspective].

“We talked about a doughnut, where you keep the facade and the first bay of the structure to restrain the facade with a new building in the middle.

'This building has a really good structure, so our conclusion was: why would you demolish it as this is very wasteful?”

But not all the structure could be retained as the northwest corner was said to be a 'warren of columns, walls and holes'.

This was cleared out and the existing floors were taken out with a new structure put in.

In November 2021, Westminister Council granted planning for the redevelopment of two major department stores on London's Oxford Street.

The first was M&S, which involved demolishing three interlinked buildings and replacing them with one low mega mixed-use, low-energy scheme.

Meanwhile, the second was for the former House of Fraser which was also a mixed-use scheme but the difference being that most of the building's existing structure and facade would be retained.

M&S took action against the Government in the High Court over its 'unusual' decision to refuse permission. Above: How the M&S proposal could look

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove (pictured) intervened to block the plans, arguing that the building should be refurbished rather than demolished

The M&S proposals became embroiled in one of the most high-profile and significant planning rows in recent years and it still hasn't been fully resolved.

Campaign group SAVE Britain's Herirage argues that Orchard House is part of an ensemble of early five to six-story 20th-century department stores.

They claim that replacing it with one 10-storey mega block would disrupt the urban grain.

The House of Fraser was also built in the 1930s and shares very similar features with its neighbour.

M&S claimed that its store, which consists of three buildings rather than being one giant store like the House of Fraser, was unsuitable for refurbishment.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove intervened to block the plans, arguing that the building should be refurbished rather than demolished.

He also said the demolition would negatively impact nearby heritage assets including the Grade-II-listed Selfridges store directly opposite.

But High Court Judge Mrs Justic Lieven ruled in favour of Marks & Spencer, issuing a damning judgement that the Government misunderstood planning policies and that Mr Gove had tried to 'rewrite' planning policy.

M&S took action against the Government in the High Court over its 'unusual' decision to refuse permission.

Mr Gove said there was no 'compelling justification' for demolition over refurbishment and that flattening the building would cause harm to nearby heritage assets, including the Grade II-listed Selfridges store directly opposite.

But he also acknowledged that it was unclear whether there was a 'viable and deliverable alternative'.