Welcome to our Community Hub to display an overview of our proposals for the 1 St Martin’s Le Grand site.
We are committed to consultation with residents and the local community, and will continue through the development and beyond. We are keen to hear any questions you might have and to know what you think about the emerging proposals.
We look forward to receiving your feedback and sharing further details throughout the process.
Welcome to our Community Hub to display an overview of our proposals for the 1 St Martin’s Le Grand site.
We are committed to consultation with residents and the local community, and will continue through the development and beyond. We are keen to hear any questions you might have and to know what you think about the emerging proposals.
We look forward to receiving your feedback and sharing further details throughout the process.
1 St Martin’s Le Grand is a cornerstone building within the Postman’s Park Conservation Area and, whilst not listed, is considered to be a non-designated heritage asset.
A number of other important heritage assets are located within the Site’s immediate context, including the Church of St Botolph (Grade I Listed), and a scheduled section of Roman Wall and medieval bastion bordering the light-wells of the building’s north elevation, in Postman’s Park. Taken together, the approach to the site’s redevelopment has sought to respect the overall historic sensitivity of its setting, and where possible enhance these assets.
Church of St Botolph
Police Call Box
Gate and Railing to Former Churchyard
The site is in a well-connected and evolving location, with excellent transport links, a redevelopment to the south, and proposals to improve the public realm with the St Paul’s Gyratory transformation.
Sir Henry Tanner Building
After a period of almost 400 years and various Coaching Inns on the site, the original building was built for the Post Office in 1895 as part of what was a flourishing postal service at the time.
The building originally designed by Sir Henry Tanner had a well-proportioned and considered design. It intended to make best use of the island site, with frontages to 3 streets and gardens to the north. Faced entirely in Portland Stone, with corner towers its most prominent feature, the building was arranged around a courtyard which intended to bring light into the inner rooms.
The General Post Office North
Aerial view of the retained original façade and complete demolition of the rest of Tanner’s building as part of the 1980s redevelopment of the Site.
Aerial View of Sir Henry Tanner’s GPO North prior to redevelopment in the 1980’s
1980’s Redevelopment
Following the sale of the Site in 1984, planning permission was granted for the wholescale redevelopment of the Site behind the retained late 19th century façade, resulting in the total demolition of the original building behind the external elevations.
The 1980s redevelopment had a steel-framed structure with large open plan office floorplates and a 2-3 storey roof extension including a French style mansard. Significant changes were made to the original façade to accommodate the new steel structure, including changes to the size of the window openings, dark tinted glazing, and a new service entrance to St Martin’s Le Grand.
The internal plan form of the original interior features was demolished as part of the late 1980s redevelopment, and only the external façade of the original building was kept. As a result, there is no surviving internal late 19th century fabric or features related to the building’s former use as the General Post Office Headquarters.
Despite changes to the original façade to enable new internal floor levels to suit the requirements of the 1980s office use for the building, the relationship between the existing floorplates and the window openings is compromised on several floors.
The 1980s redevelopment involved replicating parts of the late 19th-century entrance ‘porches’ from St Martin’s Le Grand and King Edward Street within the new office building entrances. Today, little of this replica design remains in the St Martin’s Le Grand entrance hall.
Exterior
Following an extensive pre-application process and considered discussions with the City of London officers, the proposed scheme has evolved over time. This has informed the design and resulted in the following proposed changes:
Existing Level 7 Internal View, With Restricted Window Openings
Proposed Internal Level 7 View looking North
Current Entrance Hall
Existing floor level changes
Level 7 restricted window openings
The Original Post Office building was built with a central open-air courtyard.
The changes in the 1980’s completely gutted the interior, infilling the floor slabs at new levels to suit trading floor requirements. This change has resulted in some conflicting relationships with the façade and brought about uneven floor levels.
The proposals aim to reposition some of the floor slabs to improve the relationship with the existing façade and improve the quality of internal space. This will be done by lowering, and therefore reusing, slabs with only small rebuilds where necessary to reposition or add new floors. The repositioned floor slabs will therefore improve accessibility into and throughout the building.
Historic – 1983
Current – 2023
1980’s Scheme
Proposal
View from Gresham Street
View from Postman’s Park
Materiality
As part of our proposals, we are looking to reposition and centralise the main entrance on St Martin’s Le Grand, with a grand reception space which will be realigned to match the St Martin’s Le Grand pavement level. At present, the entrance comes in at an awkward split level.
The proposals also include multiple ground floor entrances, allowing tenants a range of options to enter the building.
The existing and proposed entrances can be seen below.
Existing
Proposal
Proposed Centralised Entrance
Proposed new Ground Floor
Proposed Reception View
The St Paul’s Gyratory proposals outline changes to the local public realm around the St Martin’s Le Grand site. The proposals include the creation of a new King Edward’s Square pedestrian zone and new coach bays on Angel Street and St Martin’s Le Grand.
Building on the plans for the St Paul’s Gyratory, we have tailored our public realm proposals to complement the broader context, providing the opportunity to:
Indicative Landscape Masterplan
St Paul’s Gyratory Plans
Initial thoughts for King Edwards Street
Operational Energy:
Certification:
Environment:
Embodied Carbon Project Targets:
Ho Bee Land is a developer and investor of enduring, timeless spaces, revolutionising how people live, work and play since 1987. The firm is headquartered in Singapore with developments in Australia, China, the United Kingdom, and Europe, culminating in a comprehensive global portfolio of iconic residences and workspaces of the future.
In 1996, Ho Bee Land made its first foray into London and has since invested £2 billion. The firm have a portfolio of eight investment properties in the capital. In 2022, Ho Bee acquired The Scalpel, an iconic skyscraper in London. Prior to this, Ho Bee made an acquisition of Ropemaker Place in the City of London in 2018. The rest of Ho Bee’s portfolio in London is equally impressive, such as Grade A office accommodation on Park Street in Mayfair, alongside another freehold commercial property located on Lombard Street, at the heart of the City Mile, just 100 metres from the Bank of England.
Through mindful and cutting-edge developments and investments, Ho Bee Land breathe new life into neighbourhoods, creating sustainable sanctuaries that elevate how communities live, work, and innovate for the future, one that’s built to last.
The Scalpel
Ropemaker Place
Across their 40 years of practice, Orms have delivered best in class projects across a diverse range of sectors including offices, workplace fitouts, education, residential and hotels/leisure.
Within the past 18 months, Orms have been recognised in the RIBA Awards, Civic Trust Awards and BCO Awards regionally and nationally. With The Standard Hotel, Orms have been recognised internationally with the Architizer, NLA, AJ Retrofit, Hotel Design and AHEAD Awards and listed in the top 10 buildings of the year in the Times 2020. At Orms, they believe that true innovation is not only in form, but in method.
Orms take pride in listening to clients, each other and the individuals that work in the building to educate and encourage debate, ensuring every voice is heard. This insight informs their process, and is embedded into their designs, and realised in their structures.
75 London Wall
16 Old Bailey
20 Gracechurch Street
Project Manager: Savills
Architect: Orms
Planning Consultant: Avison Young
Structural Engineer: Elliot Wood
Sustainability Consultant: Hilson Moran
Landscape Architect: Robert Myers Associates
Transport Consultant: Markides Associates
Heritage & Townscape Consultant: Tavernor Consultancy
Daylight & Right of Light Consultant: Point 2
Cost Consultant: Quantem
Fire Safety Engineers: OFR Consultants
CDM Advisor: Leslie Clark
Lighting: EQ2 Light
Building Control: Bureau Veritas Building Control Ltd
Acoustic Consultant: Sandy Brown
Microclimate Consultant: GIA
Ecology & Environmental: The Ecology Practice
Air Quality Consultant: TRIUM
