Our London team is delivering plug-and-play office space at Sicilian Avenue through a design and build appointment. This project sits within a wider asset enhancement strategy, with Alchemy Asset Management acting as development manager and Knight Frank as asset manager. The focus is on accelerating leasing, reducing void periods and protecting long-term return.
The first phase of the project launched to market in summer 2025, offering a mix of CAT A and ready-to-occupy space. Early leasing feedback and agent insight indicated an opportunity to further accelerate take-up through a fully fitted proposition.
In response, the second phase repositions four floors of the asset as a market-ready office offer. The strategy removes barriers to occupation while maintaining flexibility for future tenant adaptation. It responds directly to local market conditions and competitive benchmarking within the Bloomsbury submarket.
Layouts, specification levels and capital investment priorities were developed in parallel, tested against occupier demand, commercial agent input and return-on-investment thresholds. This ensured the space could be positioned with clarity and transacted efficiently.
Located moments from Holborn station, Sicilian Avenue reflects more than 115 years of cultural significance in Bloomsbury as one of London’s first pedestrianised streets. Commercial offices sit above 12 retail units hosting high-quality food, beverage and lifestyle brands, creating a vibrant community for workers and local residents.
Bloomsbury’s links to literary culture continue to shape the area as it undergoes renewed commercial and cultural repositioning, placing Sicilian Avenue at its social heart. Choosing to trade under the Sicilian Avenue address, rather than Southampton Row, reinforces the identity, prestige and rental potential associated with the location.
Our design leverages the character of the Grade II-listed building, retaining key architectural elements while introducing contemporary interventions. This approach creates a distinct market identity while ensuring the space remains commercially relevant and easy to lease.
The focus is on maximising return while keeping the space flexible, market-ready and straightforward for occupiers to take.
Gurvinder Khurana, Director at M Moser
At the heart of the strategy is our occupier insight. Drawing on over 40 years of workplace experience and cross-sector end-user intelligence, the team brought a clear understanding of what drives leasing decisions in today’s market.
This insight directly shaped planning strategies, specification choices and the balance between standardisation and optional enhancement, ensuring the offer aligns with occupier expectations while protecting commercial viability.
We treated the triangular floorplate and narrow elevation as opportunities to organise the space. Retained structural elements are used to form meeting rooms, enclosed spaces and informal seating, creating layered privacy and spatial variety without incurring additional structural cost.
From the outset, we embedded flexibility without undermining cost certainty. Pre-costed layout options and upgrade scenarios were developed early, allowing agents to respond quickly to tenant requirements such as additional meeting rooms or increased cellular space.
This creates a clear leasing narrative, enabling agents to articulate both the base build offer and future adaptation pathways, with cost implications already understood.
Delivery is ongoing, with design, cost and construction closely aligned to maintain programme certainty within a complex listed-building environment. Proactive contractor engagement and close coordination with the development and asset management teams allow risks to be identified and mitigated as the project progresses.
This approach ensures the asset is delivered as a market-ready office space, supporting faster leasing while maintaining long-term flexibility.
The project is currently in progress, with completion anticipated in Q4 2026. A full post-completion case study will assess leasing performance and the longer-term impact of the repositioning strategy.
By combining market insight, occupier intelligence and delivery expertise, we support asset managers in making informed early-stage decisions. In doing so, this reduces risk, accelerates leasing and strengthens overall asset performance.
In progress
2026
London
1,784 sq m / 19,200 sq ft
