The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government granted approval for the redevelopment of the M&S store at Marble Arch in December 2024, with a planning application originally submitted to redevelop the store in March 2021.

M&S is aiming to develop a modernised store which continues to offer customers a broad range of trusted value products across both Food and Clothing & Home at the west end of Oxford Street. In addition, it will work with partners to deliver best in class, Prime Grade A sustainable office space on the upper levels of the building.  

Stuart Machin, M&S CEO, said: “I am delighted that, after three unnecessary years of delays, obfuscation and political posturing at its worst, under the previous Government, our plans for Marble Arch – the only retail-led regeneration proposal on Oxford Street – have finally been approved. We can now get on with the job of helping to rejuvenate the UK’s premier shopping street through a flagship M&S store and office space, which will support 2,000 jobs and act as a global standard-bearer for sustainability.

 “We share the Government’s ambition to breathe life back into our cities and towns and are pleased to see they are serious about getting Britain building and growing. We will now move as fast as we can.”

The plans are part of M&S’ Never the Same Again programme. The proposal is the next stage in this programme, which enables M&S to unlock value from the site as well as retaining a modernised store in the west end of Oxford Street, delivering the best of M&S for customers, colleagues, communities and shareholders. 

Stephen Springham, Head of UK Markets at Knight Frank, said: “This decision provides the greater certainty around the retrofit versus rebuild debate that the industry has been crying out for. It was clearcut that M&S had proven that, using whole life cycle modelling for numerous retrofit and rebuild scenarios, redevelopment is the most sustainable long-term option for this particular site.”