Custom House to open its doors — and the riverside — to Londoners
11.09.2025
A landmark building adapted for modern use
The City of London Corporation has approved plans to transform Custom House, one of the City’s most significant Grade I listed landmarks, into a new hotel and riverside destination.
Standing on the Thames for more than two centuries, Custom House is an enduring symbol of London’s rich trading history, but for decades it has remained closed to the public. The approved scheme, led by Orms for Jastar Capital, will sensitively restore the building and reimagine it as a 179-bed hotel. The scheme will include bar and restaurant offerings, a new event venue in the historic Long Room, a spa, and riverside terraces.
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"Custom House shows what adaptive reuse is all about: respecting historic fabric while enabling new uses, navigating the complexities of a two-hundred-year-old structure, and ensuring it remains relevant for future generations.”
Reconnecting the City with the Thames
Importantly, the scheme will open up 160 metres of the Thames Path and create a new 2,880 m² public quayside, reconnecting Londoners to this part of the City for the first time in generations. Plans also feature a new public ground-floor route through the former King’s Warehouse, animated by historic displays, galleries, and an exhibition space.
Adam Smith, Associate Director at Elliott Wood, said: “Custom House shows what adaptive reuse is all about: respecting historic fabric while enabling new uses, navigating the complexities of a two-hundred-year-old structure, and ensuring it remains relevant for future generations.”
Custom House to open its doors — and the riverside — to Londoners
Balancing conservation with innovation
Beyond the building’s fabric, the adaptive reuse of Custom House delivers cultural, social, and environmental benefits. Extending the life of the structure brings people back into the heritage building and unlocks a previously constrained part of the City.
Custom House is the latest historically significant building we have worked to adapt into a new hospitality destination. Others include the former Midland Bank into The Ned, Bow Street Magistrates’ Court into NoMad London, and, most recently, Churchill’s Old War Office into The OWO. Each project has required us to balance conservation with innovation to ensure these landmarks continue to play a meaningful role in London’s built fabric.
