British Land will press ahead with redevelopment of the Broadgate centre in the City of London, after requests to preserve the building were turned down.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt rejected pleas from English Heritage to list the building ,which was built in the 1980s, on the grounds that it does not fulfil the government’s “stringent criteria of historic or architectural interest required to be added to the statutory list”.
This was despite the fact that Hunt’s government department acknowledged that the building was “impressive” in its design and decoration.
Under British Land’s plans, the buildings at 4 and 6 Broadgate will now be demolished to make way for a new complex offering some 700,000 sq ft of prime office space.
News of developments comes after French bank UBS last year provisionally agreed to locate its London headquarters in the complex, where it already occupies space.
Chris Grigg, chief executive of British Land, commented: “I am delighted by the decision as it allows Broadgate to continue to evolve as a sustainable and flexible office location that will meet the future needs of occupiers whilst maintaining the sense of space and place for which it is rightly renowned around the globe.
“With the decision by Jeremy Hunt, the Government has also sent out a message loud and clear to the world that the UK is ‘open for business’.”