IN Brief:
- LS Estates appointed RED Group after Ardmore’s collapse, with completion of the central London redevelopment targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
- The £50m is the overall redevelopment value; the value of RED’s remaining contract has not been disclosed.
- The office scheme retains 86% of the existing structure and is targeting BREEAM Excellent, with its carbon benefits reported as estimates.
RED Construction Group has been appointed to complete the £50m redevelopment of 5 Chancery Lane in central London after work under the previous contractor was interrupted. Developer LS Estates has engaged RED’s London division to manage the remaining construction programme, with completion of the office retrofit now targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
The appointment follows the collapse of former main contractor Ardmore, which had taken the building to its topping-out milestone in March 2026. RED will work with project managers and quantity surveyors Gardiner & Theobald as LS Estates transfers responsibility for the remaining works. The £50m figure refers to the redevelopment overall; the value of RED’s appointment has not been separately disclosed.
Completed originally in 1910, the building stands in London’s legal quarter and is being adapted to provide approximately 105,000 sq ft of upgraded office accommodation. The works involve extensive alteration to the existing floors and building services alongside additional space at roof level. Retaining much of the original frame changes the sequence of construction: existing load paths, floor levels and openings must be understood before new structural and service elements can be tied into them.
Foggo Associates developed the architectural concept, with Corstorphine & Wright appointed as delivery architect in August 2025. The design retains and adapts the principal façades while reorganising the upper floors and internal accommodation. A back-to-frame office retrofit also requires an accurate record of which existing structural elements remain and how new work attaches to them, particularly where the specification has evolved after initial surveys and demolition.
Corstorphine & Wright describes a three storey rooftop extension spanning the fifth to seventh floors, together with landscaped roof space. A newly inserted central core replaces the former atrium and allows the office floors to be reconfigured. The new core brings lifts, stairs, fire escape routes and vertical service distribution into a single construction interface, while alterations above the existing building require coordination of the retained structure with the loads introduced above the existing roof.
The rooftop work introduces a curved metal structure, and project design information identifies cross-laminated timber in the roof terrace. These are different elements of the building rather than evidence that the whole extension uses timber construction. Connections, weatherproofing and fire protection where new work meets the retained structure form part of the technical coordination needed to deliver the architect’s scheme; the project team has not published a detailed structural specification.
The office floors are being delivered to a Category A shell-and-core standard, providing base building services and finished common areas ahead of fit-out for an individual occupier. The remodelling includes changes to layouts, vertical circulation and the building envelope. Distribution routes for ventilation, power and water services have to be reconciled with the redesigned core and roof plant, especially where space and access are constrained by the retained floors.
LS Estates’ project team expects to retain 86% of the existing structure, with estimated avoided emissions of about 4,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with an approach involving more extensive demolition. Structural reuse also reduces the requirement for replacement materials and demolition handling, although the precise outcome will depend on the completed construction quantities. The 4,800-tonne figure remains a project estimate, not measured emissions from an occupied building.
A separate project estimate puts the reduction in annual operating emissions at about 540 tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the previous building. That figure concerns the building in use, including the performance of its services and energy strategy, whereas the 4,800-tonne estimate relates to retaining existing construction. The measures have different time bases and should be assessed independently rather than combined into a single carbon saving.
The design was pre-assessed as targeting BREEAM Excellent, with final certification dependent on evidence from completed works and commissioning. Performance of the replacement mechanical and electrical systems, controls and envelope will also affect whether the projected operating savings are realised. The project materials identify an environmental target, not a verified certificate or measured performance after occupation.
Client monitoring architect AFK Studios is providing technical design review, site inspections and checks against the original design intent. Its work places an additional review function alongside the delivery architect and RED’s construction management team. For a contractor taking over during delivery, agreement on the status of completed work and design changes is important because later finishes can conceal structural connections, fire stopping and services installations that require inspection.
The contractor transition must also accommodate procurement and access to the partially completed building. Roofing, glazing, services installation and internal finishing cannot all proceed independently where they share work areas or require earlier elements to be made weather-tight. The project team has not published a revised package-by-package programme, so the appointment establishes who will lead the remaining delivery rather than the sequence of every trade operation.
LS Estates now expects completion in the first quarter of 2027, later than dates still carried by some historic project pages. RED’s immediate task is to complete and coordinate the outstanding refurbishment packages under the revised programme. Practical completion and the eventual certification of the upgraded building will establish the next verifiable milestones; no separate handover date has been given for an occupier’s fit-out.
