The regeneration of The Whiteley has been a long time in the making. The iconic Whiteleys department store, which opened to much fanfare in 1911, fell into decline in the late 20th century and closed in 2018. Its transformation into a high-end hotel and residences has been extraordinarily ambitious.
‘You won’t find any other project that can be compared with The Whiteley,’ says Dickie Wong, deputy chairman and executive director of C C Land Holdings, which alongside MARK Capital Management has invested £1.5 billion into the revitalisation of the Grade II- listed building.
Led by development manager Valouran, the 2025 Spear’s Grand Prix award winner, the Foster + Partners-designed project has created 139 residences, a 109-room Six Senses hotel (the brand’s first opening in the UK) and 19 commercial units, with retail space that includes an Everyman Cinema, Third Space gym and 3812, a gallery specialising in Chinese contemporary art.
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The Whiteley presented ‘a rare opportunity’, Wong says. ‘It is a very substantial project. We’re talking about over 1 million square feet of property – a composite development comprising 139 very luxurious apartments, a hotel and retail. It’s got a very significant historical background, and offered a very exciting and challenging opportunity to take part in a high-end urban regeneration scheme.
The project is the cornerstone of a larger £3 billion transformation of Queensway and the wider Bayswater area. Park Modern, a £450 million, 57-apartment block from Fenton Whelan, opened in 2023, and other landowners have been updating their buildings, often coordinating via an organisation called the Queensway Joint Steering Committee.
‘We see we have made an influential contribution in uplifting the Queensway and Bayswater area,’ Wong says. ‘Put it this way: we are the pioneers, and we are very happy to see other investors and building owners doing the same thing. We are jointly creating a much better environment – not only for the local neighbourhood, but for the wider community as well.’
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The Whiteley is about 90 per cent complete, he adds, with 70 or so residents living there already (more than £600 million worth of apartments were sold off plan), the cinema and gallery open for business, and the hotel set to open soon.
‘We have developed other new projects in London, but in no way do they compare,’ Wong says. ‘The Whiteley has a rare combination of a very strong historical background and influence, with contemporary design features and amenities. We are proud to be able to develop such an exciting project.
This feature first appeared in Spear’s Magazine issue 98. Click here to subscribe
