Shoppers might expect a high-end retail experience when they set foot in Marks and Spencer’s Art Deco flagship on Oxford Street in London. Instead they encounter low ceilings, blocked toilets and uneven flooring.
On a tour of the 160,000 sq ft store, which consists of three buildings of different sizes, M&S operations director Sacha Berendji pointed to disconnected escalators, a temperamental heating system and thick square pillars that made it “impossible” to display products in an engaging way.
“You will not see a floor plate like this anywhere else in a modern flagship environment,” he said. “The inside is just not fit for purpose.”
In March, M&S won a legal challenge against the Conservative government, which had blocked it from demolishing the store in the renowned shopping district to make way for a new store, restaurants, offices and a gym.
Now the 140-year-old retailer is eagerly awaiting a decision by Angela Rayner, Labour communities secretary, over whether it can go ahead with the rebuild that has become a flashpoint in the debate over decarbonising the economy.
“It is absolutely up to the secretary of state to decide, but we very much hope she will make the decision [in favour]. Nobody has said that they think [demolishing the store] is the wrong thing to do that has been close to it, and yet we still find ourselves without consent,” said Berendji.
M&S’s multimillion-pound plans to rebuild its Marble Arch flagship had been approved by both Westminster City council, the local authority and the Greater London Authority when Michael Gove intervened in 2023 and blocked the project.
The then communities secretary said it could harm nearby protected landmarks — including the Grade-II listed building next door occupied by high-end department store Selfridges — and would fail to support the UK’s ambitions to transition to a low-carbon future.
M&S subsequently took legal action in the High Court. In March, the court said Gove’s decision was unlawful because he had “misinterpreted” the National Planning Policy Framework, the guidelines that govern the planning system in England, and told his department to reconsider.
Berendji, who previously managed the store, said M&S was encouraged by Labour’s “drive towards investment for growth” — a key plank of the governing party’s vision for Britain and also part of the retailer’s desire to overhaul its flagship.
“The jobs and the wealth creation will come from the [new] buildings — there’s a couple of thousand constructions jobs in building it. But if you imagine all of the grade An office space and what that will bring in terms of people working in the area for the vibrancy of the local economy, that’s a huge boost,” he added.
Gove’s intervention came after M&S’s scheme drew the ire of architectural and environmental campaigners. While the former say the Art Deco facade of one of the three buildings should be preserved, the latter argue that refurbishing the store would be better for the environment than tearing it down.
Demolishing it would release too much “embodied carbon”, the emissions created during its original construction, they say.
Berendji said there were no “deep refurbishment options available” for the site, which is riddled with asbestos and crumbling concrete, and that M&S had looked at 16 different refurbishment schemes that did not involve demolition.
“Our desire would always be to rebuild,” he added, noting that it would be in the retailer’s interest to keep a store open during renovations rather than having to shut it for several years.
M&S has said it will probably leave the site if it does not gain permission to rebuild — a potential blow to Oxford Street at a time when the shopping destination is battling to revive itself.
The demise of well-known department stores such as Debenhams and House of Fraser in recent years has been swiftly followed by a surge in sweet and souvenir shops and empty buildings. But a planned £90mn redevelopment by Westminster City council and the New West End Company, which represents businesses in the area, is intended to arrest the decline.
Proposals include widening pavements, installing new street lighting and making Oxford Street more accessible, with more trees and places to rest. The private sector is contributing 50 per cent of the total cost.
Berendji said that “if businesses are going to pay half of that, we need to make sure our buildings justify that investment in the street”.
Dee Corsi, NWEC chief executive, said the project was “essential for ensuring our nation’s high street has a public realm that reflects its global reputation”.
Selfridges backs M&S’s plans. It previously said the rebuild had a role in “maintaining Oxford Street as the UK’s national shop window”.
Property developers, meanwhile, were constantly asking M&S “what’s going on because they want to invest . . . and if we don’t have clarity on what the framework is, people aren’t going to bring schemes forward”, Berendji said.
“[Ours] would be the only retail-led regeneration of Oxford Street that has happened in decades so we hope that we’ll get the green light,” he said.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it could not comment because Rayner was considering a decision.
