Westminster City Council has given the green light to the largest London School of Economics development project in its 120 year history.

The £120m Centre Buildings Redevelopment project is designed to create a new focus for the central London campus.

It will involve constructing 200,000 sq ft of academic buildings rising up to 14-storeys arranged around a public square.

The redevelopment involves the demolition of the existing LSE owned buildings along Houghton Street, known as Clare Market, The Anchorage, the East Building and part of St Clements.

Demolition is due to begin at the start of this year’s summer break with the building due to be completed in late 2018.

The contest for a main contractor will start shortly to appoint a firm early next year.

Director of Estates Julian Robinson said: “This is a major milestone in our ambitious programme of improving facilities and accommodation at LSE.  We are a world class university and the Centre Buildings Redevelopment will provide a new building and public spaces which will reflect this.  ”

Architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners designed the project. Their team includes ChapmanBDSP as MEP consultants, AKTII as structural engineers and Gillespies as landscape architects.  Turley are LSE’s planning consultants for the scheme with Deloitte as cost consultants.