Custom House

Bringing a vacant Grade I listed building back to life demands heritage precision and commercial realism. For Jastar Capital, we secured approval to restore Custom House as a riverside hotel with public access and cultural uses – returning the landmark to active city life. 

• Grade I listing and highly sensitive setting → Evidence-led heritage strategy balancing conservation with modern use. 
• Vacancy and underuse → Viable new life as a hotel with public amenities and events. 
• Limited public access to river edge → Opened quayside and inclusive, south-facing public space, year-round. 

Facts panel

• Location: Custom House, Pool of London, City of London
• Client: Jastar Capital
• Role: • Planning consultant • Historic environment & townscape • Viability • Socioeconomic  
• Outcome: Planning approval for sensitive refurbishment and redevelopment  
• Scale/Mix: • 179 bed hotel • River fronting F&B • Spa/health facilities • New event space • Public quayside with year-round Thames Path access  
• Stakeholders engaged: • Historic England • King’s Foundation • Georgian Group • SAVE Britain’s Heritage  
• ME team (selected): • Gareth Fox • Tom Pemberton • Alexander Nesti • Kate Falconer Hall • Nick Pond • Harriet Suter • Will Seamer • Sarah Gibbs • Chris Petty

The Story 

Custom House has served as the centre of revenue and customs for over two centuries and remains one of the City’s most sensitive heritage assets. Vacant and underused, it risked slipping further from public life. Any proposal needed to conserve its significance, open the building to the public, and deliver a commercially credible mix of uses in a location that is both historic and highly visible on the Pool of London. 

Bringing together conviction-led expertise and a collaborative, agile structure, we aligned planning, historic environment and townscape, viability and socioeconomic inputs. The idea was straightforward: conserve the building’s significance and unlock its value by putting it back into active use while opening it to the public for the first time – a hotel with river-facing amenities and meaningful public access inside and out. 

We led the planning strategy and also provided historic environment and townscape advice to calibrate interventions precisely with the significance of the fabric. Viability and socioeconomic work demonstrated deliverability and public value – supporting the mix of a 179-bed hotel, riverside F&B, spa/health facilities, galleries and historic display spaces and a new event space. We coordinated stakeholder engagement with Historic England, the King’s Foundation, the Georgian Group, and SAVE Britain’s Heritage – addressing detailed design questions while maintaining the integrity of the overall conservation strategy. 

Parallel design work delivered a newly landscaped public quayside and management approach that enables year-round public access – including opening up a currently inaccessible stretch of the Thames Path. 

Value Unlocked 

Planning approval will enable a sensitive refurbishment that protects the Grade I significance of Custom House while introducing a credible new mix of uses and unprecedented public access. The riverside hotel and amenities bring the building back into active use, the event space reanimates its historic interiors, and the newly landscaped quayside creates an inclusive, south-facing public realm – opening up the Thames Path for year-round access. 

Comment 

“Custom House is an exceptional project. These plans balance modern interventions and commercial requirements with a commitment to preserving its heritage and reflecting its rich past.” – Gareth Fox, Partner, Montagu Evans 

“A vacant Grade I listed building on the Thames frontage will be carefully refurbished for the hotel use, allowing ongoing conservation and opening new areas for public enjoyment for the first time.” – Kate Falconer Hall, Partner, Montagu Evans 

Photo credits: Orms and Secchi Smith