Foster + Partners have been granted approval for the construction of a new mixed-use cross-laminated timber development in London. Named The William, the scheme will become one of London’s largest timber developments, and Foster + Partners’ first timber office building in the city.

As reported by The Architect’s Journal, the process will see the demolition of a four-story 1950s housing block to be replaced by a pair of new seven-story mixed-use buildings. Both buildings will contain street-level retail, with one holding 32 residential units, and the other holding 90,000 square feet of office space. 

Inside, the scheme will feature a double-height lobby containing art installations, as well as terraces and rooftop spaces overlooking Hyde Park. Meanwhile, 11 of the 32 residential homes have been earmarked as affordable units. According to the team, the buildings will achieve BREEAM Outstanding once completed, and will be operationally net-zero carbon. 

“Working closely with Westminster City Council and local residents, we have designed a mixed-use development that sets the standard for the next generation of low carbon, healthy office buildings,” noted Foster + Partners senior director Patrick Campbell. “The William provides natural ventilation, great daylight, flexible floorplates and green terraces – all within a high-performance façade and a hybrid timber structure. We are now looking forward to bringing our designs to life.”

News of the scheme comes in the same week that Foster + Partners began construction on a ‘floating’ extension to the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum in Spain. Last month, meanwhile, the firm completed the EU’s tallest building in Warsaw, Poland, while also completing the new 425 Park Avenue tower in Manhattan.

In July, the team completed a Kuwait skyscraper with curving concrete fins, while June saw the completion of an ‘innovative’ retrofit scheme in an old Spanish gas plant. At the beginning of 2022, Foster + Partners also completed a pyramid-like museum in Datong, China.