One Museum Street
Welcome to the project website for One Museum Street
This website shows the proposals for One Museum Street (also known as Selkirk House) – a now vacant site on Museum Street and High Holborn formally occupied by Travelodge, an NCP car park and its adjacent buildings on West Central Street. The development is being bought forward by Simten on behalf of BC Partners.
One Museum Street will provide market and affordable homes, healthy, sustainable workspace and retail targeted to local independent operators. These will be provided in a collection of new and carefully restored heritage buildings. All set in a beautiful green and engaging landscape.
November 2023
Camden Council planning committee decision
On Thursday 16 November 2023, Camden Council’s planning committee resolved to grant planning permission for the One Museum Street scheme.
The decision is a significant milestone for the project, and a big step towards realising the plans to deliver new and refurbished homes including affordable housing and turn an empty, redundant hotel and car park into a sustainable new employment space for the over 1,600 people.
We now look forward to finalising the Section 106 agreement with Camden Council which will secure many of the benefits of the scheme. The scheme will then be subject to final approval from the Council and GLA ahead of a start on site.
We would like to reiterate our commitment to working closely with the community over this next phase. To receive email updates on the project going forward, please sign up to our mailing list shown above.
Click here to view our summary of proposals document, outlining the scheme and the benefits it will bring to the area.
The masterplan proposals will provide:
A high-quality development that provides healthy, flexible and sustainable office space for over 1,600 new workers
44 new homes on site, including 19 affordable homes from 1 to 5 bedrooms
Substantial improvements to the public spaces on Museum Street and West Central Street, with new seating and plants, bringing vibrancy and activity and improving safety
New shops, restaurants and cafés bringing more footfall to the area throughout the day in the evenings
A sustainable development targeting a BREEAM outstanding rating
Employment and training commitments, including an estimated 65 construction apprenticeships, 2 end-use apprenticeships and programmes to connect local residents with future office occupiers
Maximised retention of the existing Selkirk House basement and replacement of the building with a new development built for longevity, adaptability and sustainability
A new pedestrian route through the site lined with shops connecting Covent Garden and the British Museum – called Vine Lane
Generating £15m in business rates per year for the Council to spend on local services and infrastructure
The story so far
The previous owner of the site, Labtech, spent several years consulting on proposals for an office-led mixed-use development in line with Camden Council’s draft site allocations policy, which would provide new offices space, homes and public spaces, including a pedestrian route through the site linking West Central Street with High Holborn. The original planning application as submitted in 2021. In early 2022, LabTech revised the proposals in response to concerns about the height of the tower and its impact on views and a desire to see more homes delivered, particularly affordable homes.
BC Partners and Simten acquired the site from the previous owner in June 2022 and submitted revisions to the existing planning application in September that year. The revised plans incorporate the amendments proposed by LabTech in response to community and stakeholder feedback. The changes include a reduction in height and increase in the number of homes. We undertook a further round of engagement with local stakeholders and neighbours to share the amendments in advance of submitting the revised proposals.
This original application was submitted to Camden with the reference number 2021/2954/P.
Following the decision in March 2023 by Historic England that two of the buildings in the West Central Street block should be listed, Simten made further amendments to the scheme to respond to this listing. These changes have now been submitted as part of a new planning application to Camden Council. You can view and comment on the new application by visiting Camden’s planning portal here and searching the reference number 2023/2510/P.
BC Partners and Simten are committed to continued engagement with the local community around the proposals, including in regards to the new public spaces provided.
The Team
BC Partners is the owner of the site, having purchased it from Labtech in Summer 2022. Founded in 1986, BC Partners is a leading alternative investment manager focused on private equity, credit, and real estate, with deep networks across Europe and North America.
Simten is the development manager for the project with experience in delivering major ambitious projects across London. As Development Manager, Simten are bringing the proposals forward on behalf of BC Partners.
DSDHA is an architecture, urban design and spatial research studio, established by Deborah Saunt and David Hills. More than bricks and mortar, their projects are about people. They bring projects to life and design them to evolve after completion.
They have been awarded 19 RIBA Awards, have twice been nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, and have also been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize.