The Crown Estate has launched the main contractor procurement for St James’s Market Phase 2 in central London, with a newly published works notice carrying a maximum estimated value of £322 million excluding VAT.
The procurement, published on 23 October 2026, covers a major office-led redevelopment around the retained Grade II-listed Carlton Cinema on Haymarket. Contractors have until 19 November to submit the first-stage information required to participate in the competition.
The headline £322 million figure requires an important distinction. Approximately £222 million relates to the core St James’s Market Phase 2 main works, including the Pre-Construction Services Agreement, while a further approximately £100 million relates to an option covering 130 Jermyn Street. The £322 million is therefore the maximum estimated procurement value rather than the value of one already committed construction contract.
The Grade II-listed former Empire Cinema on Haymarket, which is being retained within The Crown Estate's St James's Market Phase 2 development. Photo: London Construction Magazine.
Key Takeaway: The Crown Estate is now selecting the contractor for St James’s Market Phase 2 through a Competitive Flexible Procedure. The core main-works package is approximately £222m, with a separate £100m option for 130 Jermyn Street taking the maximum procurement value to £322m excluding VAT.
What the £322m St James’s Market Procurement Includes
The Find a Tender notice describes the core project as a new approximately 312,500 sq ft NIA CAT A office building extending from Basement Level 2 to Level 7 and constructed around the retained Carlton Cinema.
The contractor’s scope also includes shell-and-core refurbishment of the cinema, retail shell-and-core accommodation, landscaping and public-realm works, new UK Power Networks substations and responsibility for maintaining a watching brief over the separately procured demolition works before taking the demolition contract through novation.
| Element | Estimated Value Excl. VAT | Status |
|---|---|---|
| St James’s Market Phase 2 main works including PCSA | c.£222m | Core procurement |
| 130 Jermyn Street | c.£100m | Option |
| Maximum procurement value | £322m | Estimated maximum |
The notice says the St James’s Market works and the 130 Jermyn Street option may share an energy centre, mechanical and electrical plant and practical-completion programme. Exercising the option could therefore affect both the scale and duration of the final contractor appointment.
PCSA Followed by JCT Design and Build 2024
The Crown Estate is proposing a two-stage delivery route. The selected contractor will first enter a Pre-Construction Services Agreement before progressing, subject to the commercial process and approvals, into an amended JCT Design and Build 2024 contract.
That distinction matters. The current procurement is a live contractor competition, but it is not yet a main-contract award and the PCSA itself is not the main construction contract.
The procurement is being run as a Competitive Flexible Procedure under the Procurement Act 2023. At the first stage, contractors must complete the Conditions of Participation and Procurement Specific Questionnaire, covering eligibility, capability and scored selection requirements.
Up to four of the highest-ranked suppliers are expected to progress into the tender stage. The procurement documentation provides for subsequent tender evaluation and commercial engagement before the final contractor selection.
Clarification questions are due by 5 November, with requests to participate closing at 17:00 on 19 November 2026. The procurement notice records an expected award decision in December 2026 and an estimated contractual start in June 2027. The published contract period currently runs to 31 January 2031, with potential extension where the 130 Jermyn Street option is exercised.
Grade II Cinema Sits Inside the New Development
The most technically distinctive part of St James’s Market Phase 2 is the relationship between the new commercial development and the retained Grade II-listed Carlton Cinema.
Planning history for the site establishes a substantial redevelopment of the Haymarket block while retaining and altering the historic cinema. Make Architects describes the wider scheme as a single urban block integrating existing buildings and the former Empire Cinema, with new office, retail and public-realm space.
Published structural design information has also described substantial transfer engineering associated with spanning new development above and around the retained cinema fabric, including major steel transfer structures. That heritage interface sits alongside basement construction, retained façades and the need to coordinate new permanent works around an existing listed building rather than clearing the entire site for a conventional new-build frame.
Current project information identifies AKT II as structural engineer, Gardiner & Theobald in project management and cost consultancy roles, Watkins Payne on building services and sustainability, and Make Architects on the office scheme design. The project has also been developed around demanding sustainability targets, with Make describing a minimum BREEAM Excellent ambition.
The complexity is typical of the type of West End work increasingly appearing in The Crown Estate’s London pipeline: high-value commercial development combined with heritage retention, retrofit, public realm and constrained-site construction rather than straightforward demolition and replacement. LCM previously examined that wider pipeline in The Crown Estate’s £16.7bn Asset Base Points to Long-Term UK Development Pipeline.
£12m Demolition and Enabling Package Is Separate
The main contractor procurement follows a separate competition for demolition and enabling works launched earlier in 2026.
That package has an estimated value of £12 million excluding VAT and covers demolition of existing buildings and foundations, asbestos removal, underpinning, infilling pavement vaults, temporary works supporting retained structures, site-wide clearance and excavation, and installation of the piling mat.
The demolition and enabling works tender was published in July, with an estimated contract period from February 2027 to April 2028.
Under the newly launched main-works procurement, the incoming main contractor is expected to maintain a watching brief over that separate contract before it is novated. That creates a potentially significant interface between enabling works, retained structures, basement preparation and the contractor taking responsibility for the principal design-and-build programme.
Central London Logistics Add Another Delivery Constraint
St James’s Market sits immediately south of Piccadilly Circus in a dense part of the West End. The construction programme must therefore be delivered within a constrained environment of narrow streets, businesses, heritage assets, public movement and neighbouring infrastructure.
Those conditions become particularly important when heavy demolition, basement construction, major structural steelwork, façade retention and substantial MEP installation overlap within a multi-year programme. LCM has previously examined the growing pressure on delivery sequencing, lifting operations and access in central London construction logistics.
For the eventual St James’s Market contractor, managing the interfaces between the retained cinema, demolition contractor, public realm, utilities and neighbouring properties is likely to be as important as the conventional office construction itself.
Contractor Selection Moves SJM2 Towards Delivery
The latest notice moves St James’s Market Phase 2 beyond an early development proposition. Planning and design work are established, the enabling package has already been separately procured and The Crown Estate is now running the competition for the contractor expected to take the project through pre-construction and, subject to the subsequent contract process, into the main design-and-build works.
The critical dates for contractors are now 5 November for clarification questions and 19 November for the first-stage submission. The Crown Estate’s current procurement programme then points towards contractor selection in December 2026 and the PCSA/main-works contractual programme beginning in 2027.
The £322 million headline should nevertheless continue to be read as a maximum procurement value: approximately £222 million for the core St James’s Market Phase 2 package and approximately £100 million for the optional 130 Jermyn Street element.
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