This new flagship for M&S offers a positive vision for Oxford Street’s environmental, cultural, & economic sustainability with innovative retail, highly sustainable workspace and enhanced public realm

The new store on 458 Oxford Street will be a BREEAM Excellent flagship for the M&S of the future, focused on flexible and innovative retail, backed by smart infrastructure and carbon neutral operations. Complementing the retail, the proposals deliver a generous workplace, the first multi-tenant development in Westminster to target BREEAM Outstanding, WELL Platinum, and WIRED Platinum certification. Each design decision has been considered to minimise carbon in construction and operation, with the energy and carbon targets for the project driven by London Energy Transformation Initiative guidance and the UK Green Building Councils framework definition for Net Zero Carbon buildings.

The need for change on Oxford Street is urgent and compelling – its condition does not match its international status. The growth of online retail & Covid-19, alongside the climate emergency, has created a rapidly evolving landscape for retailers where an inviting environment is more critical than ever. 458 Oxford Street, the home of M&S’s Marble Arch Store, offers a positive vision - driven by the UN Sustainable Development Goals - for Oxford Street’s future environmental, cultural, and economic sustainability. The proposals reaffirm the raison d'être of the city centre as a place of creative exchange vital to our human needs and communal spirit, where connected and culturally proliferating density is favoured over isolated, one dimensional continuous sprawl.

The proposals deliver multi-faceted transformation to the public realm, reintroducing historic permeability through a new arcade, developing a pedestrian focused secondary street network for the district. They make valuable contributions to strategic greenways through a new landscaped oasis space, avenues of trees on Oxford and Orchard Streets and generous greenery to upper levels with an UGF in excess of 0.4.

This rich spatial experience provides the doorstep to a fit for purpose retail environment that retains M&S' presence as an anchor tenant in the district.