FAQ

Thank you to everyone who provided comments and feedback on our proposals for the office building at One St John’s Lane. During the consultation period, we were asked lots of great questions, which we have answered in the FAQ below.

Q) What are your plans for One St John’s Lane?

A) We are looking to bring forward planning proposals to revitalise and improve the office building at One St John’s Lane. Our plans represent the opportunity to deliver:

• A building much more in-keeping with the surrounding local architecture and historic environment

• Enhance and increase the existing office accommodation

• Vastly improve the public realm and connectivity around the building

• Provide a range of sustainability measures, including reusing the existing building’s core, solar panels to generate electricity, providing green roofs and rainwater harvesting, and encouraging sustainable travel via bicycle parking and on-site showers.

Q) What is Royal London Asset Management?

A) Royal London Asset Management is the UK’s largest life, pensions and investment mutual, proudly owned by its customers. As a responsible, long-term investor, Royal London is committed to making a positive, lasting contribution to the local area, ensuring it continues to thrive.

Q) Why are you bringing these proposals forward?

A) The building’s façade is over 25 years old, designed at a time when sustainability was not a major design consideration. To meet modern energy efficiency targets, we are taking a fabric-first approach, stripping the building back to its frame and introducing new energy efficient façades for better thermal performance, reduced heat loss and more control over solar gain. Our plans would also address the building’s existing appearance, which is uninspiring and out-of-keeping with its historic context. Modifying the ground floor slab level would vastly improve accessibility to and from the building, as well as connectivity between St John’s Street and Cowcross Yards.

Q) Are you proposing to knock down and rebuild One St John’s Lane?

A) No. The existing building’s core, basement and superstructure would be retained and reused. A new external façade, constructed from non-combustible materials more in-keeping with surrounding local architecture, would be used to create an attractive high-quality new façade.

Q) How tall will the proposed building be?

A) The proposals would add an additional 5.8m storey to the building, taking the overall height of the building up to just under 30m. The graphic below demonstrates the height difference in storeys:

Q) How will the proposed building fit in better with its surroundings?

A) The existing building is uninspiring and does not fit in with Clerkenwell’s unique built environment. Our plans propose to remove the existing façade and replace it with external materials much more in-keeping with its surroundings. This would include incorporating materials, such as appropriately coloured brick and stone, and architectural details similar to those used in nearby buildings.

Q) How much more office space would your plans deliver?

A) The existing building currently provides approximately 89,000 s qft of office space (Net Internal Area). The proposals would increase this to around 94,000 sq ft, creating improved, modern office accommodation that better meets modern occupier expectations.

Q) Do your plans include affordable office space?

A) Yes. A self-contained, on-site Affordable Workspace (AW) unit (approximately 1,200 sq ft) would be provided at the western corner of the lower ground floor, fronting directly onto the public open space in Cowcross Yards.

Q) Why are you adding more mass to the existing building?

A) More mass will allow us to modernise the building, mostly at lower ground floor and basement levels, enabling us to:

• Provide a range of shared tenant amenity spaces, expected by modern occupiers (showers, lockers, changing rooms and cycle parking)

• Locate extra plant space (some relocated from the roof where Islington and neighbour will not want to see it)

• Accommodate large volume rainwater attenuation tanks (needed to meet our sustainability targets)

• Provide additional floorspace for employment use, as required by both Islington’s Local Plan and the Greater London Authority’s London Plan.

Q) Does the proposed design and scale meet the expectations of the Council’s conservation area and local plan requirements?

A) Yes. The proposed design and scale have been discussed extensively with Islington’s planning and heritage officers to ensure the design and scale meet the Council’s expectations. The proposed design is considered in keeping with the building’s surrounding context.

Q) How will disabled access into the building be affected by your proposals?

A) Disabled access to, and within, the building would be significantly improved by our proposals. The existing ramp and steps into the building would be removed and replaced with ground level access, maintaining disabled access into the building while vastly improving connectivity between St John’s Street and Cowcross Yards.

Q) Why is the site being brought forward for office use?

A) Workspace provision, job creation, skills and training have all been identified as aspirations for Islington Council. An opportunity therefore arises to support local employment, skills development and inclusive access to jobs through the creation of high‑quality workspace and targeted training opportunities linked to the development.

Q) What sustainability and biodiversity measures are proposing?

A) The proposals include a number of significant sustainability measures, including a new, energy-efficient façade, much-improved heating, cooling and ventilation systems, solar panels to generate electricity and reusing the existing building core and basement. There would also be a sizeable biodiversity net gain, achieved through the introduction of new green roofs, shrub and urban tree planting, including pollinators, sustainable urban drainage and rainwater harvesting. Bicycle parking and on-site showers would also work to encourage active travel.

Q) What would the daylight impacts be on neighbouring buildings, compared with the existing building?

A) Our preliminary assessments indicate that the overwhelming majority of neighbouring building windows would be compliant with Vertical Sky Component, which measures the level of daylight that reaches a property's windows from the sky, or would see a minor adverse impact. A comprehensive Daylight/Sunlight Report will be submitted as part of our planning application.

Q) How will your proposals benefit local people?

A) The proposals would provide the following key benefits for local people:

• A new façade more in-keeping with local architecture and Clerkenwell’s unique built environment, making the building ‘easier on the eye’ for those who live and work nearby

• Improved quality of office accommodation, attracting modern employers and boosting local employment opportunities

• Better facilities within the building, encouraging office workers to use more sustainable modes of transport, such as cycling

• Matching the ground floor slab to the surrounding street level, improving the building’s accessibility and connectivity

• New level entrance at the rear of the building, which will animate Cowcross Yards, elevating public safety and enjoyment of this space

• Improvements to the safety of surrounding areas via a more activated façades at ground level and natural surveillance.

Q) Would the rooftop terrace be accessible to members of the public?

A) No. The rooftop terrace would be used by employees of the businesses operating in the building as a communal space to socialise and relax. This area would provide fresh air and views to help improve levels of well-being.

Q) What about the current occupiers?

A) The current occupier is The Save The Children Fund (SCF). While SCF’s lease expires on 7 September 2028, they would ideally wish to surrender their lease earlier to enable their relocation to a smaller office facility. Securing an early planning consent may provide us with an opportunity to consider an early surrender of SCF’s lease, which could bring forward the refurbishment scheme a little earlier.

Q) What are your timescales for the project?

A) Subject to feedback from the consultation process, we are aiming to submit our planning application in Autumn/Winter 2026, and we are hopeful the proposals will be determined in early 2027. If our planning application is approved, we would look to start construction in 2028 and complete the works by 2030.

Q) How can people get in touch with you?

A) If you would like further information about our plans for the office building at One St John’s Lane, please contact our Community Relations Team on hello@onestjohnslaneproposals.co.uk or by calling 0800 772 0475 (no charge).