Flagship twist for London offices, Derwent London’s 25 Baker Street sets a new benchmark

Edited by ad hoc news Flagship & Bestseller Desk. Reviewed before publication on 06/15/2026 at 4:00 PM ET. Details in the imprint.

Derwent London’s 25 Baker Street development has become the flagship showcase for how the West End landlord wants its future office portfolio to look: energy-efficient, amenity-rich and geared toward occupiers that still want prime London space despite hybrid working pressures. The mixed-use project, anchored on a prominent corner site just north of Oxford Street, is due to complete in the second half of 2025 and is already significantly pre-let to blue-chip tenants at premium West End rents. Derwent London’s official project page describes the scheme as delivering more than 200,000 sq ft of new offices alongside retail and residential elements, underlining its role as a cornerstone of the group’s pipeline.

What 25 Baker Street delivers on the ground

25 Baker Street sits on a large island site bounded by Baker Street, George Street, Blandford Street and Gloucester Place, replacing an older, lower-grade block with a substantial new-build structure and refurbished elements carefully integrated into the streetscape. According to Derwent London’s latest development updates, the scheme provides around 205,000 sq ft of new Grade A offices, approximately 25,000 sq ft of retail and an additional residential component at the rear fronting Gloucester Place, creating an office-led mixed-use cluster in Marylebone. The building has been designed to appeal to occupiers that increasingly prioritize sustainability metrics such as energy intensity and whole-life carbon, with the landlord targeting BREEAM “Outstanding” for the main office element and an EPC A rating, both at the top of the UK efficiency scale.

Architecturally, the project has been shaped by Derwent London’s track record of working with design-led practices to differentiate its assets from more generic City or Canary Wharf stock. 25 Baker Street features a series of set-backs, terraces and a stepped massing that aims to bring daylight deeper into the floorplates while softening the impact on neighboring streets. Inside, the landlord has flagged generous floor-to-ceiling heights, flexible layouts and a focus on communal amenities ranging from end-of-trip facilities for cyclists to high-quality entrance spaces and shared terraces, all elements that have become central to post-pandemic leasing negotiations for higher-paying tenants. The company has stressed in its reporting that the scheme will connect to local public transport hubs, with Baker Street and Bond Street stations within walking distance, reinforcing the emphasis on central, accessible locations.

The development structure at 25 Baker Street also reflects Derwent London’s partnership model with landowners and institutions for major West End projects. The site forms part of a long-standing joint venture with The Portman Estate, one of Marylebone’s principal freehold landowners, allowing Derwent London to secure a prominent pipeline scheme without owning the underlying land outright. Under the terms disclosed by the company, Derwent London holds a long leasehold interest and leads the development and leasing activity, while both partners share in the value creation once the scheme is fully let and stabilized. This kind of capital-light approach is a recurring feature in the company’s portfolio strategy, helping to stretch its development firepower across multiple large projects in the West End core.

On the leasing side, Derwent London has emphasized that 25 Baker Street is substantially pre-let, a notable data point at a time when many secondary London offices struggle with elevated vacancy and incentives. The landlord has announced that major tenants from the financial and professional services sectors have committed to a significant portion of the office space, agreeing headline rents that reflect the limited supply of prime, highly sustainable buildings in the West End, even as older offices face downward pressure. An earlier letting update referenced a large pre-let to PIMCO for over 100,000 sq ft at the scheme, underscoring the ability of best-in-class developments to attract global names despite wider uncertainty over long-term office demand. The pre-let profile is important for Derwent London’s risk management, as it significantly reduces leasing exposure at completion and provides early visibility on income from the project.

Sustainability features at 25 Baker Street extend beyond the targeted certifications and into the fabric and systems of the building. Derwent London has outlined plans for efficient building services, including modern HVAC systems, low-energy lighting, and smart controls aimed at minimizing operational carbon, as well as a design approach that reuses existing structures where possible to reduce embodied carbon. The developer is also focusing on encouraging low-carbon transport, with extensive bicycle parking, showers and lockers to support commuting by bike or on foot, and limited on-site car parking in line with its broader sustainability policy for central London assets. These design decisions align with corporate occupier requirements, as many multinationals now have their own net-zero roadmaps and must report on the carbon footprint of their real estate portfolios, making highly rated buildings like 25 Baker Street more attractive over the lease term. Derwent London’s sustainability framework sets out group-wide goals on embodied and operational carbon that inform how major developments are configured and specified.

Financially, 25 Baker Street represents one of Derwent London’s largest current projects and a significant source of potential rental growth once fully completed and let. In its recent results presentations, the company has highlighted the scheme’s expected yield on cost and its contribution to contracted rent from the development pipeline, indicating that the pre-lets signed to date support a return comfortably above the group’s cost of capital. The project is also emblematic of a wider shift in the landlord’s portfolio mix, with a greater concentration in fewer, higher-quality assets that are expected to remain relevant in a decarbonizing, hybrid working world. For occupiers, the building offers a way to consolidate into a single, modern headquarters-style office in Marylebone, trading older space elsewhere in London for a more efficient footprint in a location that appeals to staff and clients.

Within the broader group, 25 Baker Street sits alongside other notable West End projects such as 19-35 Baker Street and Derwent London’s holdings around Fitzrovia, together forming a cluster of assets that benefit from cross-leasing and active asset management. Analysts following the UK office sector often view these schemes as tests of how far prime London office rents can be pushed for space that combines strong sustainability credentials, design quality and central locations, especially against the backdrop of higher interest rates and evolving occupational demand. According to recent trading data, Derwent London’s shares (ISIN GB0002652740) are listed on the London Stock Exchange, where the group is a constituent of the FTSE 250 and its share price continues to reflect investor expectations about the leasing progress and long-term value of flagship developments such as 25 Baker Street. A recent market snapshot from Green Street showed Derwent London’s equity changing hands at around £18 to £19 per share, underlining how closely public-market valuations track sentiment on the West End office outlook. Green Street’s real estate market data includes Derwent London alongside other major UK REITs.

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