Wetherell Mayfairs Fitnes Properties

When Thomas Barlow, the first Grosvenor Estate Surveyor, drew up plans for the 11 streets and Grand Square of north Mayfair in 1720, his vision was for a residential community. A century later, when architect John Nash designed Regent Street, he included shops and offices in his plan. A hundred years after that commercial uses like offices, shops and hotels had swept through east Mayfair and only a quarter of the houses in Brook Street were being used as private homes. And in World War II properties around Grosvenor Square were requisitioned by the armed forces as residents fled to the country to escape the Blitz. During and immediately after the war, the local planning authority granted temporary office consents – of varying duration – on 1.2 million square feet of residential property in Mayfair.

The expectation, almost certainly, was that residents would return to Mayfair after the war. Some did, but many buildings remained in office use while the City of London was being rebuilt – and some were used as offices for decades after that. Around half of the consents expired in 1973, the remainder in 1990. Since that time, Westminster City Council has sought to return houses granted temporary office consents to residential use. Current council policy is clear: "Inside the Central Activity Zone proposals to convert buildings in office use into permanent housing will be generally acceptable," Unitary Development Plan, January 2007. In that time, Wetherell alone has been involved in the sale or acquisition of over 85 former office buildings. All have been restored as flats, maisonettes or houses and have been sold for more than £150 million. Grosvenor has worked with Westminster City Council to increase the quality and stock of both residential and commercial property. Use swaps have been used to return west Mayfair to residential, while allowing commercial developments – like Grosvenor’s new offices at 70 Grosvenor Street – to go ahead in the east.