Office and retail development designed by Stanton Williams

Knight Harwood has completed an office and retail building on a highly constrained site in the heart of the City of London.

Designed by Stanton Williams for the Mercers’ Company, the five-storey Whittington ڶ replaces two buildings behind Mercers’ Hall in the Guildhall conservation area.

It is named after Dick Whittington, the medieval merchant and philanthropist whose 600-year-old charity disburses money to the needy through the Mercers’ Company.

The 36,000 sq ft scheme features retail space and its main lobby on the ground floor with upper floors providing office space and terraces with views over the City.

A new arcade links Frederick’s Place, formerly a cul de sac, with the narrow Ironmongers Lane, where a colonnade running the length of the building opens up the street for pedestrians and provides access to the scheme’s retail space.

The new colonnade on the narrow Ironmongers Lane significantly widens pedestrian access along the street

The main reception area features timber panelled walls with terrazzo tiled floors and a glass installation by artist Catherine Lee entitled ‘A Cloth of Gold Bright Shoon’, which was commissioned by the Mercers’ Company through a Glaziers’ Company competition in 2022.

Others working on the deal include QS Avison Young, project manager Hanover Cube, structural engineer Elliot Wood and fire engineer OFR.