The EIT St James’s Square retrofit has cleared its final planning hurdle, with Westminster Council’s Planning Committee voting unanimously on 18 August to approve Foster + Partners‘ scheme to overhaul the historic 11-12 St James’s Square buildings for the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT). The decision signals a significant commitment to heritage-led refurbishment at the heart of one of London’s most conservation-sensitive addresses.
Larry Ellison, co-founder and executive chairman of Oracle Corporation, a software company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, purchased the two buildings from Chinese Estates for £163 million in late 2024. Oracle carries an annual income of £42 billion and a market capitalisation of £240 billion, according to the Architects Journal. Ellison founded EIT to address what the organisation describes as ‘pressing challenges’ in science and technology, spanning health, medical science, food security, clean energy and artificial intelligence. EIT already opened a London office at 11-12 St James’s Square in November, and its main UK base sits in Oxford.
What the consented EIT St James’s Square retrofit involves
Foster + Partners’ scheme retains 66 per cent of the existing structures, demolishing a 1980s rear extension and a two-storey modern extension at the rear of number 12, along with its modern core. Uncovering those layers will expose and restore historic façades at number 11 that had been obscured by low-quality modern interventions. A consultation launched earlier this year found that the 18th and 19th century buildings had been upgraded poorly, with contemporary elements undermining their heritage character.
Number 11 St James’s Square was originally built by Benjamin Timbrell in 1736, its façade altered in 1774 and a new balcony and porch added in 1877. Number 12 dates to a rebuild by Thomas Cubitt in 1836, on a site first constructed in 1674. The two were amalgamated from 1965, with a new rear office extension linking them, and a six-storey residential extension added in 1987. Stripping back those accretions sits at the core of the heritage argument.
Approved works include the reinstatement of laylights in their original design and position, replacement of a modern skylight at number 12 with a historically correct fanlight, removal of 1990s fibreglass statues in favour of Coade stone replacements, and the substitution of modern roofing materials with Flemish bond brickwork. Façade restoration will use ‘accurate paint tones’ to match the original Georgian appearance. A new rear façade responding to the surrounding Conservation Area will also be created.
Committee chair councillor Jim Glen described the proposal as a ‘very interesting and innovative’ project and a ‘huge improvement’ on the existing site. Design documents frame the outcome as ‘high-quality, heritage-led refurbishment’ delivering a ‘modern, flexible office environment while enhancing the building’s historic character.’ EIT intends the space to serve as a ‘flagship’ facility for attracting and retaining talent. Donald Insall Associates is acting as heritage consultant and Avison Young as planning consultant.
Westminster’s retrofit-first policy and the broader EIT St James’s Square context
Westminster Council adopted a retrofit-first policy at the start of this year, requiring developers to fully explore all reasonable options for retrofitting and adapting existing buildings before seeking demolition consent. The EIT St James’s Square retrofit sits squarely within that policy framework, with the 66 per cent structural retention providing a clear embodied carbon argument over full demolition and rebuild. The policy itself arrived six and a half years after the AJ launched its RetroFirst campaign.
An earlier application for the buildings, submitted in 2023 by Piercy&Company working with Purcell for then backer Knightlights Property International, covered refurbishment including improved entrances but was later withdrawn.
Foster + Partners is already engaged with EIT on a much larger project at the Oxford Science Park, and unveiled proposals for a second phase of that campus last year, including a new train station at Littlemore on the Cowley branch line. The scale of EIT’s Oxford ambitions has grown considerably: originally envisioned in 2023 as a science complex covering 300,000 sq ft, the campus is now looking at laboratory and office spaces totalling 2 million sq ft, according to the Ellison Institute of Technology. The main campus buildings are set to open in 2027, with the scheme led by Lord Norman Foster.
