The joint venture between Helical and TfL’s property company Places for London has confirmed Mace as prefered bidder for its £200m overstation office scheme at Paddington Station.

The innovative 19-storey, 235,000 sq ft office building will sit above the canal side entrance to Paddington Station and has been designed by architect Grimshaw.

Enabling and interface works are now underway on the site ahead of the formal acquisition of the property by the joint venture in January 2026.

The project is due for completion in the autumn of 2028.

This morning in a trading update Helical also confirmed it was progressing plans for a purpose built student block above Southwark tube station with its partner Places for London.

Revised Southwark overstation plan

The developer said it had now signed off forward funding for the 429 student studio and 44 affordable flats scheme.

Mace is understood to be also in line to deliver this job with work is expected to start on site in early 2026 subject to Gateway 2 building safety regulator approval.

The accommodation will be available for occupation in 2028.

Last year, McLaren Construction bagged the first of the JVs trio of planned overstation schemes, a £100m job to build new office space over Bank tube station in the City of London.

Matthew Bonning-Snook, Chief Executive, said: “Our joint venture with Places for London  is progressing well, with terms now agreed with them to forward fund the 429 unit PBSA scheme at Southwark, and enabling works having commenced on our Paddington office scheme ahead of the site drawdown in January 2026. 

“We are focused on adding further office and mixed-use schemes to the pipeline, both in the PfL joint venture and with third parties, as we look to ensure our equity works harder through employing flexible structures, from traditional joint ventures through to equity-light forward fundings.”