Fleet Street: £5bn development plan will transform former Daily Express HQ to serve a surprising new purpose
The former Daily Express headquarters is among a flurry of buildings that will be transformed as part of a £5bn makeover of Fleet Street.
A pipeline of 34 new developments have been announced for the East London region, which was once the former home of the newspaper industry.
As part of the scheme, Salisbury Square, will be transformed into a 525,000 sq ft space housing 18 courtrooms, which will serve as a headquarters for Canada Police.
Furthermore, the former Goldman Sachs HQ at Peterborough Court, 133 Fleet Street will be reshaped into Grade A office space with a retail offering below.
Business group Fleet Street Quarter, who is leading the development said that plans will attract 25,000 additional workers and create three million sq ft of new Grade A commercial space across the area.
Formally known as the ‘Street of Shame’ Fleet Street was once home to thousands of journalists and printers working for newspapers such as The Times and The Sun.
However, most newspapers left the area in the 1980s and 90s as they sought out cheaper manufacturing in different parts of London.
Today, it is home to a range of legal, media and creative industries, such as Framestore, which led the creatives behind films including Paddington and Guardians of the Galaxy.
“This part of London has been reinventing itself for 2000 years. We, the people that work, live, play and invest here, are the custodians of its past and the curators of its future. This is a golden opportunity, a landmark moment,” Lady Lucy French OBE, chief executive of the Fleet Street Quarter BID, said.
“We are seeing the evolution of an area; an emerging, sustainable, inclusive hub for today and tomorrow. This is a remarkable renaissance; the reinvention and repositioning of the Fleet Street Quarter.”