Housing secretary approves rebuild plans for M&S Oxford Street

(Sharecast News) - Marks and Spencer received approval from the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government to redevelop its Marble Arch store on Oxford Street, it announced on Thursday. The FTSE 100 retailer said the decision followed a public inquiry into the proposal, originally submitted in March 2021.

It said the new building would prioritise sustainability and energy efficiency, designed to be among the top-performing structures in London.

The development would reportedly consume less than a quarter of the energy of the current building, reuse or recycle 95% of materials, and halve water usage.

A whole-life carbon assessment by environmental consultants Arup found that redevelopment would outperform refurbishment in carbon reduction, surpassing the government's 2035 target, the company explained.

M&S also noted the technical challenges of retrofitting the complex site, consisting of three separate buildings of varying age and structure, as a barrier to refurbishment.

With regards to the store's heritage, two previous applications for listed status had been rejected.

"I am delighted that, after three unnecessary years of delays, obfuscation and political posturing at its worst, under the previous government, our plans for Marble Arch - the only retail-led regeneration proposal on Oxford Street - have finally been approved," said chief executive officer Stuart Machin.

"We can now get on with the job of helping to rejuvenate the UK's premier shopping street through a flagship M&S store and office space, which will support 2,000 jobs and act as a global standard-bearer for sustainability.

"We share the Government's ambition to breathe life back into our cities and towns and are pleased to see they are serious about getting Britain building and growing - we will now move as fast as we can."

At the close on Thursday, shares in Marks and Spencer Group were down 0.13% at 397.3p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.