In 2013, Michael Ryan, former US Secretary of the Treasury, Jon Snow, Chinese conglomerate Fosun Property Holdings, and Aviva partnered on the £65m purchase of the Lloyds Chambers building on 1 Portsoken Street in the City of London.

In 2016, the group submitted a planning application to the City of London for consent to demolish the dated building and redevelop the site to make room for a 400,000 sqft mixed-use development – doubling the existing square footage – dubbed The Butterfly building. It was granted.

In early 2018, the New York-based investor Abraham Schwartz completed the £97m purchase of 1 Portsoken Street, along with the planning approval to develop The Butterfly.

The new building was to comprise ground plus 12 stories and 3 basement levels providing modern commercial office accommodation. Below grounds are basement levels for retail, leisure, cycle parking, and plant rooms whilst a shared service area on Goodmans Yard will provide unloading and recycling facilities for both the retail and office accommodation.

“The Butterfly, with its beautiful and highly efficient design, will offer office space to meet the needs of the modern occupier. This will increase the building’s current floor capacity while transforming the streetscape in this part of London.” Michael Ryan