Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed a director of a brand new Center Japanese-backed funding fund planning to deploy greater than £1bn into luxurious hospitality initiatives in London’s Mayfair.
Evolution Funding Fund, launched in 2025 by the UAE-based Shanshal household, has acquired a leasehold curiosity within the London Marriott Lodge Grosvenor Sq. alongside a improvement website close to New Bond Avenue with full planning consent.
The entire capital dedication for the 2 initiatives, together with improvement prices, stands at roughly £1.1bn. The fund mentioned the acquisitions characterize a “vital vote of confidence in London’s long-term progress prospects”.
Zahawi has joined the UK boards overseeing the acquisition entities.
The 237-room London Marriott Grosvenor Sq. spans almost 198,000 sq ft and sits within the coronary heart of Mayfair, surrounded by embassies, non-public members’ golf equipment and high-end retail.
The second challenge, positioned at Grafton Avenue and Barlow Place, will comprise a 157,000 sq ft scheme that includes 94 resort rooms and 6 luxurious residences. Designs by Foster + Companions embody plans for a 12-storey tower forming a part of what the fund describes as an “ultra-prime hospitality providing”.
The Shanshal household, whose enterprise pursuits span logistics, telecommunications, automotive retail and development throughout the Center East, mentioned the Mayfair investments mirror long-term confidence in London’s world attraction.
Zahawi co-founded polling firm YouGov in 2000 earlier than getting into Parliament in 2010 because the Conservative MP for Stratford-upon-Avon. He later served briefly as chancellor beneath Boris Johnson.
In 2023 he was dismissed as Conservative Celebration chairman after breaching the ministerial code by failing to reveal that HM Income & Customs had been investigating his tax affairs. Earlier this yr, Zahawi defected to Reform UK.
He mentioned he was “delighted” to hitch Evolution at what he described as an thrilling stage of its improvement and would use his expertise to assist the supply of world-class hospitality property.
The appointment underscores continued worldwide urge for food for prime London actual property, at the same time as increased rates of interest and political uncertainty weigh on components of the UK property market.
