Irvine Sellar may be forced to resubmit plans for London Bridge Tower if an adjacent Railtrack scheme cannot attract funding.
Planning consent for the 1,000ft, 66-storey “shard of glass” designed by Renzo Piano was granted by Southwark councils planning committee on Monday night.
But Southwark said that this consent was conditional on the tower being built “at the same time, or after, the implementation of the Railtrack masterplan scheme for London Bridge station”.
Railtrack needs £200m to close the funding gap in plans to redevelop London Bridge station. If it is built, the £400m TP Bennet-designed scheme will include over 500,000 sq ft of offices.
Railtrack made a representation to Southwark councils planning committee on Monday, saying that some of the London Bridge Towers planning gain, believed to be in the region of £14m, should go towards the redevelopment of the station.
But Southwark council is adamant that this will not happen.
One Southwark source said that the amount would be “a drop in the ocean” compared with the sum Railtrack needed.
Sellar told Railtracks major stations asset development manager, Robin Lovell, that he was willing to provide some money for the station scheme, but said that “it wouldnt even be close to £200m”.
Railtracks funding problems are just one of many hurdles that the shard of glass will have to face.
Despite considerable public support for the tower, English Heritage has vowed to take the scheme to a public inquiry.
EGi News 15/03/02
