Fortune favoured the brave when reimagining Daniel House and Peterborough Court for a new era
Part 1: An interview with Phillip Bennison, Development Manager at Intense Capital
On a sun-drenched London morning, we step inside the vast gallery space of Daniel House at 135 Fleet Street. Beneath soaring ceilings stretching more than 16 metres high and across a gallery extending 64 metres in length, the scale of the transformation underway is immediately apparent.
Once home to the iconic Daily Telegraph Building, Daniel House sits at the heart of Fleet Street, a location synonymous with Britain's publishing history. Today, however, the building is entering a new chapter.
BDP's Senior Marketing Manager, Catherine Smith, met with Phillip Bennison, Development Manager at Intense Capital, to discuss the vision, challenges and bold decisions behind one of London's most ambitious retrofit projects.
As we look out across the evolving estate, Bennison reflects on both the site's rich heritage and the responsibility that comes with reshaping it for the future.
"Fleet Street has been a centre of publishing for more than 500 years," he explains. "The first publisher established themselves on the corner of this very plot in 1502. There's an incredible legacy here, and when the owner acquired Peterborough Court around a decade ago, we saw an opportunity not simply to refurbish the buildings, but to completely reimagine what the estate could become."
That vision extends across both Daniel House and Peterborough Court, creating a destination that blends heritage, sustainability and contemporary workplace design.
"About four years ago, after securing vacant possession of Daniel House, we developed a strategy to fully refurbish the building and introduce something entirely new – a floating glass pavilion above the roofline," says Bennison. "At Peterborough Court, the ambition was equally transformative. We have stripped the building back to its core, delivering a fully electric retrofit and creating prime Grade A office space fit for the next generation of occupiers."
The redevelopment also seeks to reconnect the estate with the city around it. A new 150-cover brasserie will draw visitors from Fleet Street through to a revitalised courtyard, creating a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor spaces and bringing fresh energy to a historic urban block.
"You Have to Be Brave"
Catherine Smith: When we last met, you said, "You have to be brave with old buildings." What does that mean in practice on a project like this?
Phillip Bennison: I still believe that. Retrofit projects demand courage because you're dealing with the unknown every day.
When you're developing 450,000 square feet across buildings of very different ages – one over 100 years old and another wrapped in a structure from the 1990s, you inherit very different challenges. Every decision carries its own weight.
The clearest example was the client's ambition to create a floating glass pavilion above a highly sensitive listed building. It was an extraordinary aspiration, but delivering it was far from straightforward.
“We spent a long time searching for a viable solution, and ultimately it was BDP who found the answer.”
What followed was a remarkable exercise in engineering, logistics and patience. We carefully dismantled the stonework from the upper floors, transported it away for storage, reinforced the structure beneath, and then brought every piece back to be meticulously reshaped and reinstated in line with planning requirements.
Only then could the glass pavilion be placed above it.
"It sounds almost impossible when you describe it," Bennison laughs, "but that's exactly why you have to be brave. You need to commit to a vision before you know precisely how you'll get there."
"I'm immensely proud of what the team achieved."
But this ambition wasn't confined to Daniel House alone.
At Peterborough Court, Intense Capital sought to create a completely new arrival experience, one that would signal the transformation taking place across the wider estate.
"We wanted people to feel a sense of occasion from the moment they entered the building," says Bennison.
"The existing entrance on Shoe Lane was constrained and understated. Working closely with BDP, we opened it up, doubled its height and introduced the largest revolving doors we could find."
The result is a dramatic new gateway leading into one of the building's defining spaces, a monumental gallery stretching almost 70 metres in length beneath a vast vaulted volume.
Yet perhaps the most significant challenge was hidden from view.
"This is now a fully electric retrofit," Bennison explains. "We removed the previous services infrastructure entirely and started again."
Unlike a new-build project, however, the existing structure dictated what could and couldn't be done.
"We couldn't simply move cores around or redesign the building from scratch. We had to work with what was already there."
That meant introducing hundreds of interventions throughout the structure, from new openings to additional supporting elements and service routes.
"In the end, we installed somewhere between 175 and 180 new risers across the estate," he says. "It was significantly more than any of us anticipated at the outset."
For Bennison, those complexities reinforce a wider belief about the future of development.
"The easy option is often to start again. The harder option is to retain, adapt and reinvent. But when you get it right, you create something far more meaningful."