Great Portland Estates is confident about future prospects for the London office market with £392m worth of construction work set to start across the capital.

The developer confirmed plans for four major sites as chief executive Toby Courtald gave a bullish update on the market.

He said: “It has been clear to us for a number of years that customers are choosing the best spaces in vibrant central London locations over the rest and this structural theme is as relevant today as ever.

“From here, we expect London’s economy to continue outperforming the UK overall. We expect our growth strategy to generate attractive shareholder returns.”

GPE has plans to start four major schemes in London at:

• Whittington House, WC1 – refurbishment to deliver 74,800 sq ft of new Grade A offices with work due to start on-site shortly.
• Soho Square Estate, W1 – a best-in-class HQ office building fronting onto Soho Square with flagship retail on Oxford Street, arranged over basement, lower ground, ground and eight upper floors. Enabling works due to start later next month.
• St Thomas Yard, SE1 – retrofit-first proposals to retain and re-use the existing 1980s and add five storeys to create an 11-storey office building across 184,300 sq ft. Work is expected to commence in summer 2026, completing late 2028.
• 1 Chapel Place, W1, – plans for a major redevelopment with the opportunity to significantly increase the building’s massing beyond its current 34,200 sq ft.

The company added: “Our forecasts indicate that future supply of new space in London will be severely constrained. We estimate that only 2.5 million sq ft p.a. of new space will be delivered on average over the next four years, in a market where the average take-up of new space is much greater, at 4.6 million sq ft p.a.

“Our significant capex programme is targeted to deliver new high quality space, with exemplary sustainability credentials, into these supportive markets.”