These are certainly interesting times for the country’s most famous shopping street. React News report that Oxford Street is poised to see around 1m sq ft of retail space converted into offices by 2027 based on the latest analysis by Savills.

This would constitute an enormous change in the historical use of the street, and though hard to imagine, Savills believe the street naturally has the volume of space to transform into a considerable office submarket. The last few major planning consents on Oxford Street have already set this in motion, with reduced retail offerings at the expense of office space, such as at the John Lewis and Debenhams stores.

It seems that change is inevitable. The Covid-19 pandemic, a decline in foreign visitors, and the shift to online shopping appear to have just accelerated what already feels like a high street in decline. A solid office offering would surely be preferable to the current prevalence for American candy stores.

Elsewhere, the planning inquiry in respect of Marks & Spencer’s application to demolish and rebuild their flagship Art Deco Marble Arch store is becoming one of the most high-profile planning cases in years, and is being regarded as something of a litmus test for how seriously local planning authorities are taking environmental factors into their decision making, specifically when it comes to the release embodied carbon by demolishing existing structures.

The result of this inquiry will no doubt have knock-on effects for not just this building, but also how the rest of the street is developed in the future.