The transformation of London’s most famous shopping street into an office location continued apace Tuesday, with British Land and Norges Bank Investment Management granted planning permission for an office-led redevelopment.

Westminster Council approved plans to knock down some of the West One Shopping Centre, above Bond Street tube station and with a frontage to Oxford Street, and put up a new building designed by AHMM. About 60% of the existing structure will be retained.

The previous 92K SF scheme comprised 37K SF of retail, including a 24K SF JD Sports, and 55K SF of offices. The new scheme will have the same amount of retail and 100K SF of offices.

British Land paid Norges £54M for a 25% stake in the building in 2019, valuing the whole at £220M. It is the asset manager for the current scheme and will manage the new development.

Owners of previously retail-heavy assets along Oxford Street are rushing to convert buildings to offices or add new office space.

An analysis by Bisnow showed that more than 1M SF of new office space will be created on a 500-yard stretch of Oxford Street over a span of just two to three years. Most of that space is current or former department stores being converted into offices.