Under the plans, developer Land Securities will refurbish and remodel the 1950s building at Bressenden Place to provide new flats as well as shops on the ground floor and private car parking in the basement. It will also build a replacement canopy over the shopping arcade at Cardinal Place and provide new landscaping.
The scheme will deliver 63 affordable homes at nearby Castle Lane and the developer is set to provide a further £12,739,000 payment towards the Council's affordable housing fund.
The Council's planning officers said in their committee report (59-page / 13MB PDF) that the current building is a "prominent landmark" on the Westminster skyline and that it "often appears as an isolated and discordant feature".
They said that, although a lower building would have been preferable, "the current proposal is a viable scheme offering the opportunity to deliver a better building in an improved setting".
The officers said that the change of use of the building to residential would provide social and environmental benefits and that the 206 new flats would account for "just over one fifth of the London Plan's minimum target of 1,000 new homes in the area by 2031".
JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts have estimated that Land Securities could make more than £230 million of profit from the project, which would make it the developer's most profitable scheme, according to Bloomberg.
