MCR’s planning application for a hotel-led redevelopment of the BT Tower

MCR London Holdings Ltd has this month lodged a planning application with Camden Council for a hotel-led scheme on the site of the BT Tower in Fitzrovia, revealing for the first time the important details of the redevelopment.

“The application proposes a retrofit-first, heritage-led conversion of the Grade II-listed Tower, together with the adjoining Podium and Howland Building, which would open the site to the public for the first time in nearly 50 years,” says MCR.

Planning and listed building consent is sought for all the buildings on the site bounded by Cleveland Street, Maple Street, Cleveland Mews, and Howland Street.

This includes the refurbishment and external alterations to the BT Tower itself, the partial demolition, remodelling and extension of the buildings at the base; to create a 400 room hotel, along with shops, restaurants, bars, exhibition and entertainment spaces, a central commercial piazza, rooftop terraces, and an open air swimming pool.

Pedestrian routes would be created through the site via a new central square at the base of the tower.

Cleveland Mews would be converted to two-way traffic for servicing and deliveries with access restricted at the junction with Howland Street.

The main building extension, according to the plans, would be the addition of upper floors on the Howland Street frontage.

MCR says it wants to get started on the project by January 2029 with completion expected by December 2033, at a cost of over £100mn.

However, no housing is proposed despite Camden Council having homes as a priority and a mixed-use policy to incorporate permanent self-contained residential accommodation on vacant commercial sites.

According to the application submitted to Camden, the site is 33,030 square metres gross internal area (SQM GIA) and of that 10,253 SQM GIA will be demolished — about 31 per cent of the site.

The plans state that after demolition, 10,265 SQM GIA of new floor space will be built, giving an increase of just 12 SQM GIA on the existing.

Under Camden’s current Local Plan for the borough, “where sites are underused or vacant,” the council will expect “the maximum reasonable provision of housing that is compatible with any other uses needed on the site”. Camden’s draft new local plan sets out a similar policy.

However, MCR states “the potential for residential use has been considered” but “the building is not well suited to residential conversion due to a combination of layout, design, fire and building safety regulations”, despite the significant amount of demolition and rebuilding proposed. (10,000 SQM GIA is equivalent to around 100 homes)

MCR says its proposed development is “considered to represent the most appropriate and effective use of the Site”.

Due to a lack of foresight by Camden’s planning department, no planning brief or site allocation for potential redevelopment of the location was ever produced. This could have shaped potential redevelopment by identifying acceptable designs and future uses for the site that the council would like to see to accord with its planning policy.

As late as July this year Camden claimed its planning department didn’t even know the size of the site, nor its rateable value, according to a freedom of information response given to The Fitzrovia News.

No pre-planning advice was released by Camden as part of its FOI response and none has been included in the application documents.

MCR states that “pre-application meetings and design workshops were held with Camden Council between November 2025 and August 2026” but no mention is made of housing being a possibility on the site.

Instead, discussions centred on commercial uses, public realm changes, design, and the “proposed community facilities, including access to the swimming pool and viewing gallery, whilst emphasising the importance of affordability, inclusivity and public accessibility”, according to the planning statement.

During the informal consultation with residents and community groups, affordable access to the Tower’s viewing deck and the outdoor swimming pool was a major attraction of the redevelopment plans.

Yet the “public benefits strategy” submitted with the application only refers to Camden not Westminster residents, despite the site being on the border of Westminster.

Camden schools’ year 6 pupils would be provided with free or discounted tickets to the viewing platform for “for a minimum of 10 years” states the application.

But no mention of Westminster schools, including All Souls Primary School which is less than 200 metres from the site.

As for the swimming pool, only a very weak commitment is being suggested: “The applicant is also open to offering local residents discounted access to the rooftop pool, with the specific details to be agreed closer to the occupation of the development.”

MCR’s focus is creating a “key destination for visitors, complementing existing cultural, leisure and hospitality uses” — adding to the already large number of hotels, restaurants and bars in Fitzrovia.

Planning application: Land Bounded by Maple Street, Cleveland Mews, Howland Street and Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JZ. A public consultation on the application is open until 11 October 2026. Application documents and a form to comment are available by searching Camden’s planning portal using the application reference: 2026/3799/P.

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