News and Insights

The Knightsbridge Estate is a 3.5-acre mixed-use island site between department stores Harrods and Harvey Nichols in the heart of Knightsbridge, one of London’s most affluent neighbourhoods.

Since it was acquired by The Olayan Group in 2010, and in close partnership with Chelsfield as asset and development manager, the Estate has seen major improvements. These include remodelling and restoring of façades and shop fronts; widening pavements; upgrades of the retail offer; reconfiguration of office space, and improvements to apartments. In 2013, an award-winning Estate wide lighting scheme was introduced to enhance the period architecture. 

The transformation has resulted in The Knightsbridge Estate securing some of the world’s most established luxury and premium brands as tenants including Watches of Switzerland, Patek Philip, Rolex, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss and Italian leather goods brand Furla.

The most important enhancement yet is currently taking place at the junction of Brompton Road and Sloane Street; a mixed-use development that will sit behind the retained heritage façades, maintaining the unique character of the area, while delivering a brand-new building that meets modern occupiers’ needs.  

Once completed, the new development will offer seven outstanding flagship stores; a new 67,000 sq ft Grade A office building; 33 luxury apartments set around a private courtyard, exclusively for the rental market; and a new roof-top restaurant with a café at ground floor.

In addition, the public realm will benefit from major upgrades. The pavement on Brompton Road will be widened to up to nine metres to ease pedestrian flow, while two new entrances to Knightsbridge Tube Station are being created including one on Hooper’s Court with step free access to the platforms. At the same time, Hooper’s Court is being transformed to include a pocket garden.

An integral part of The Knightsbridge Estate’s aim is to be a market leader in environmental standards. In addition to The Estate receiving the Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice, the new development is aiming to reduce CO₂ emissions to a level that surpass current building regulations by 35%, and will also target 100% of waste being recycled or used in energy recovery.

The development will complete in phases, from 2020 to 2021. Burberry will open its new store in 2021, the new office building and restaurants will open in 2021, and the apartments will be available to rent from 2022.