Freshwater Group’s Square Mile tower block has been approved by the City of London Corporation’s planning committee, despite significant objections from residents of the Barbican Estate.
The Tenter House at 45 Moorfields, EC2, scheme was approved by a split decision, with 14 councillors voting in favour and four against.
The part-14, part-21 storey block will total almost 368,000 sq ft, 363,400 sq ft of which will be offices, 3,100 sq ft retail and 1,500 sq ft community uses.
During the meeting, an option to defer approval to allow for the resolution of issues surrounding the servicing of the scheme was rejected by a majority of 11 councillors, including chair of the planning committee Shravan Joshi.
The sizeable minority of eight councillors who supported deferral pointed to the precedent set earlier this year with the deferral of a decision in regard to plans for 1 Undershaft, EC3, for which new plans were submitted recently.
When considering whether to approve the scheme, the planning committee discussed issues such as light pollution, increased traffic in the area due to the building’s servicing, and loss of light – issues raised in a significant number of objections to the scheme ahead of the meeting.
Despite a shortage of high-quality workspace in the City, the number of objections to the scheme rose from 57 to 92 between June and October this year, with the majority coming from residents of the nearby Barbican Estate.
In response to the objections surrounding light pollution, during the meeting the developers also agreed to a condition to install blinds within the scheme to reduce the impact of lighting on local residents.
Image © David Walker Architects
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