IN Brief:
- Legendre UK has been appointed main contractor for the redevelopment of 10 Salisbury Square in the City of London.
- The scheme will create 54,000 sq ft of office space, add two floors, and retain around 90% of the existing structure.
- The project is targeting BREEAM Outstanding, NABERS 5 Stars, and recognition through the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard pilot programme.
Legendre UK has been appointed main contractor for the redevelopment of 10 Salisbury Square in the City of London.
The six-storey building, which will be renamed Oriel St Bride’s, will be comprehensively upgraded to provide 54,000 sq ft of office accommodation. The project will include two additional office floors, improved amenities, roof terraces, and a new oriel window with views towards the Grade I-listed St Bride’s Church.
The scheme is being brought forward by Original Works, with Simten acting as development manager. Completion is scheduled for autumn 2027.
Sustainability is central to the project. Around 90% of the existing structure will be retained, reducing the carbon impact associated with demolition and new structural works. The building will also use low-carbon construction techniques, all-electric MEP systems, openable windows, and on-site renewable energy.
The redevelopment is targeting BREEAM Outstanding and NABERS 5 Stars. It has also been selected for the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard Pilot Testing Programme, placing it among projects being used to test the standard ahead of wider market adoption.
Located within the Fleet Street Conservation Area, the scheme has to balance modern office requirements with a historically sensitive urban setting. It also sits near wider investment in the Justice Quarter and City Law Courts, where the surrounding area is being reshaped by legal, commercial, and public-realm development.
Legendre’s appointment points to continued activity in the cut-and-carve office market in central London. New-build commercial development remains constrained by viability, planning, and sustainability scrutiny, while refurbishment offers a route to upgrade older assets and retain embodied carbon already locked into existing structures.
Occupiers are demanding better energy performance, amenities, wellness features, and flexibility, while investors are under pressure to avoid stranded assets. Buildings that cannot meet tightening carbon and operational performance expectations risk falling behind newer stock, particularly in prime office markets.
That shift creates more technically complex work for contractors. Retaining structures while adding floors, upgrading façades, replacing services, improving performance, and working around heritage constraints requires careful sequencing and strong coordination between structural, MEP, architectural, and logistics teams.
The use of all-electric services and on-site renewables reflects the move away from fossil-fuelled building systems in commercial refurbishment. As net-zero expectations move from broad commitments into measured performance, developers need to show how design, construction, and operation connect. Ratings such as BREEAM and NABERS remain part of that picture, but whole-life carbon and actual operational performance are becoming harder to treat as secondary measures.
Oriel St Bride’s shows how London’s commercial stock is being repositioned: retain what can be retained, add value where the structure allows, and use refurbishment to meet modern occupier and carbon expectations without starting again from the ground up.
