Fletcher Priest latest architect brought in to work on stalled £200m Tenter House City office

Fletcher Priest has been brought in to work on a £200m City office scheme next door to Moorgate station that has been on the blocks for nearly 30 years.

Building understands the firm has been working on developer Freshwater’s Tenter House scheme for several months with the move to replace previous firm David Walker Architects made last year.

The scheme has been repeatedly stalled and redesigned several times for Freshwater, which has owned the site for more than 50 years, with four proposals and seven main planning applications submitted since 1997.

It is understood Fletcher Priest, which is working on several office schemes in the City including 55 Old Broad Street and 63 St Mary Axe, is working on stage 4 designs which are expected to take up much of this year.

The job was given planning in October 2024 with David Walker’s plans featuring a part 14, part 21-storey building containing 33,760sq m of office space with retail and community space on the ground floor along with significant public realm works to City Point Plaza and a reconstruction of New Union Street as a pedestrian route.

John F Hunt has already demolished the existing 13-storey building with McLaren signed up for a PCSA on the job, having beaten Bovis and Mace to the work. It will be built next door to the 21 Moorfields office complex, the new home of Deutsche Bank.

Earlier this month, Building Design’s sister title Building revealed main construction work at Tenter House had been delayed into next year with plans for a concrete frame dropped for a steel one.

Freshwater said it would be submitting a Non-Material Amendment application to the City, which allows for small, technical updates to an approved planning permission.

“The proposed change from concrete to steel is minor in nature,” the firm said in an update, adding that it would not affect design details, including height and massing.

The project team includes development advisor JLL, project manager Buro Four, planning consultant Montagu Evans, QS Exigere, structural engineer AKT II, services engineer WSP, landscape architect Townshend Landscape Architects and townscape consultant Tavernor.