London: One of the City of London's most recognisable postmodern landmarks is about to be stripped back and rebuilt for a market that barely existed when it opened. Cheyne Capital has provided a €142m senior development loan to finance the refurbishment of 1 Poultry, the 21,368 m² Grade II* listed office building at Bank Junction, funding the next phase of its transformation for IGIS Asset Management, South Korea's largest real estate manager. The development team, co-led by Ben Cross and Basil Demeroutis, is acting as asset and development manager, with JLL advising on the financing.
Approved by the City of London Corporation in March 2026, the scheme will modernise and decarbonise the listed landmark while respecting its architectural significance, targeting an 80% reduction in operational energy use intensity alongside EPC A and BREEAM Outstanding ratings. "Against a backdrop of constrained new supply, we continue to have strong conviction in high-quality, well-located offices in the City of London. The continued flight to quality is driving occupier demand for modern, sustainable space, creating attractive opportunities for well-positioned refurbishment projects," said Hamish Gordon, Director in Cheyne Capital's Real Estate Group.
The detail that deserves wider attention from developers is that 1 Poultry is the first live application of the Commercial Retrofit Innovation Map, developed by UKGBC and Breakthrough Energy with FORE Partnership, using the building as a real-world test bed for innovative low-carbon retrofit solutions. With thousands of listed and heritage commercial buildings across European cities facing the same decarbonisation pressure, a fully financed, institutionally backed retrofit of this complexity offers a rare proof point, and a replicable playbook, for owners who have so far treated listed status as a barrier to compliance rather than a design constraint to work within.
"1 Poultry is about creating the kind of product we believe the market increasingly demands - distinctive, highly sustainable and built for long-term performance. Working closely with our design and supply-chain partners, we are showing that ambitious decarbonisation can sit alongside architectural quality and commercial performance, even in a landmark historic building," said Demeroutis, Managing Partner at FORE Partnership. "Complex projects depend on genuine alignment between the people behind them. Bringing IGIS and Cheyne together behind the ambition for 1 Poultry has been a privilege. Their collective conviction, together with the work of our incredible team, has given us the platform to turn that ambition into delivery," added Cross, Managing Partner at MORE.
Launched in 2000 and headquartered in London, Cheyne Capital invests across the capital structure from senior debt to equity, with real estate accounting for roughly half of the firm's €13.9bn under management, spanning direct lending, securitised European real estate debt and selective special situations. FORE Partnership has transacted over 139,355 m² across office, mixed-use and residential sectors, with a team track record of approximately €5.9bn spanning three decades.
People mentioned
- Hamish Gordon, Director, Real Estate Group, Cheyne Capital
- Basil Demeroutis, Managing Partner, FORE Partnership
- Ben Cross, Managing Partner, MORE
Companies mentioned
- Cheyne Capital, alternative investment manager providing the €142m senior development loan
- IGIS Asset Management, South Korea's largest real estate manager and owner of 1 Poultry
- FORE Partnership, purpose-driven real estate investment firm co-leading the development
- JLL, advisor on the financing transaction
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