FITZROVIA:
Exemplar’s Daniel Van Gelder and Richard Shaw.
CGI of Fitzroy Place Penthouse apartment.
“The areas of London owned by the great estates generally have a prevailing architectural style: it’s glorious but tends to be repetitive. When you come to Fitzrovia the architecture is very varied and very different.
“Walk around a corner and you can’t tell that you’re actually just one street away from where you were before. That makes it fun and a lot more adventurous area. I think that’s why Fitzrovia’s appealed to the creative industries. Historically it’s been the rag trade, the fashion trade. Now, it’s very much ‘new media’ and those with a creative edge who are settling here.
“It makes it a vibrant place. You walk around and you see exhibitions opening, photo-shoots taking place, filming, and people just enjoying their day. It’s not just about ‘suits’.”
Against this backdrop, the developers were keen to get a scheme which was in sync with the neighbourhood.
“Our very first priority was to seek feedback from the local residents,” Van Gelder recalls.
“We felt that the existing proposals for the site which had been drawn up by the previous owners did not reflect Fitzrovia.
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“So we discarded those and designed a scheme which we hoped that from the outset people would come here and think: ‘Yes, this works. This is not just some monolithic block of real estate but a place I personally would like to live and/or work’.”
The result is Fitzroy Place. Architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Sheppard Robson produced a masterplan that envisaged more than 230 private residences and two new office addresses with shops and restaurants around a central square.
In a space-starved West End the offices have been quick to attract attention. The 140,000 sq ft 1 Fitzroy Place has been let to Estée Lauder ahead of the building’s completion in the autumn. This leaves only the 80,000 sq ft 2 Fitzroy Place available.
With rents in the West End steadily moving upwards, market experts are predicting that the remaining space could well command more than £90 per sq ft.
And perhaps it goes without saying that sales of the luxury homes in the scheme have been going like a train.
“ WALK AROUND A CORNER AND YOU CAN’T TELL THAT YOU’RE ACTUALLY JUST A STREET AWAY FROM WHERE YOU WERE BEFORE. THAT MAKES IT FUN AND A LOT MORE ADVENTUROUS AREA. I THINK THAT’S WHY FITZROVIA’S APPEALED TO THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES”
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