Dominus has secured planning for a new 237-room hotel within a 20th Century former office building, delivering new accommodation and amenities for The City’s visitors. Located at 5-10 Great Tower Street, the building formerly used as an office and became obsolete as tenant expectations changed.
Through a strategy centred on retrofitting the existing building, Dominus has worked with Studio Moren to shape proposals that retain 100% of the building’s substructure and 70% of the building’s superstructure and facade. This approach will create a building that minimises whole lifecycle carbon and reinvigorates and repurposes an existing building, adding to the vibrancy of the area.
In addition to the reuse of the building, Dominus has driven a sustainability strategy that aims to obtain a BREEAM Excellent rating, through upgrades to the building’s envelope, efficient plant systems, and on-site renewable energy generation in the form of PV panels. The development will offer high-quality visitor accommodation, while also generating tangible social and environmental benefits.
Aligned with the business’ focus on urban renewal, Dominus has identified a number of ways to improve and create street-level activation along the key Great Tower Street and St Dunstan’s Hill frontages and publicly accessible ground-floor spaces that are shared between guests and visitors. The building will offer a meeting place for local residents and improve the broader experience of the immediate area, including St Dunstan in the East Church Gardens. The church ruin is Grade I Listed – surrounded by a tranquil garden in regular use by tourists and local workers, and as an established Instagram hot-spot.
The gardens sit within the Eastcheap Conservation Area which borders the site and has a rich heritage character. The renovation works will help the building to better respond to the characteristics of the surrounding area. A new 3-storey roof extension will create a contemporary mansard roof with dormer windows, introducing subtle verticality while respecting the broader setting. The ground floor will include the hotel’s reception area, a lounge, and a restaurant offering – opening the building to the public and enhancing visual connectivity.
This permission from The City’s planning team demonstrates their commitment to facilitating building reuse within The Square Mile. The rejuvenation of this building will also help to support the ‘Destination City’ initiative, ensuring that The City is attractive to a broad range of visitors with a strong offering of places to work, live, learn and socialise.
Anupriya Rajpal, Development Director at Dominus said: “Securing this planning approval from the City of London is a real milestone in progressing our plans for 5-10 Great Tower Street, ahead of project completion in 2025. Our collaboration with The City of London Planning team to bring these proposals forward will create a new attraction within the City, boosting activity in the immediate surroundings and supporting the Destination City initiative.
Former office buildings that are underutilised have huge potential for new uses, especially in prime locations. Coupled with our focus on projects with strong ESG credentials, this building which can be retrofitted and repurposed exceptionally well suits our vision perfectly.
Our expanding development team are thrilled to deliver this new hotel, a great addition to the three hotels in Central London that we own and operate in-house.”
Shravan Joshi Chairman of the City of London Corporation Planning and Transportation Committee, said: “The City is an iconic location and attracts visitors and tourists from all around the world. We are therefore keen to support developments that will provide high-quality hotel accommodation, especially when those schemes reuse existing buildings, such as the proposals for Great Tower Street.
“We will continue to invest in measures to boost the Square Mile’s leisure offer and create a place that stands out nationally and internationally.”
