Derwent London and Lazari Investments’ joint venture plans to create a 240,000 sq ft Baker Street mixed-use scheme are back in front of Westminster’s major applications planning committee meeting next week, where they are recommended for approval.
Councillors will decide whether to approve plans to nearly double the size of existing buildings on the Portman Estate at 38-70 Baker Street, 64-66 Blandford Street, and 43-45 Dorset Street. The Portman Estate will also hold an interest in the scheme as the freeholder.
The proposal was scheduled to be discussed at a 25 June meeting but was pulled from the agenda at the last minute, with planning committee chair Ruth Bush blaming a “serious staff illness” that she said was “not to be taken lightly”.
If the plans are approved, the existing buildings will be demolished and replaced with two seven-storey buildings. One will be a mixed-use commercial space comprised of retail, office and community space, as well as a rooftop terrace. The other will be made up of 17 residential units.
The community space will be used for cultural and educational activities and managed by Baker Street Quarter Partnership, let at a peppercorn rent.
The development will also involve an £820,000 contribution to the City council’s Carbon Off-Set Fund to mitigate operational emissions, as well as an off-site carbon savings project at St Mary’s Bryanston Square Primary School just south of Marylebone Road.
When recommending the scheme for approval, planning officers said the proposed development’s contributions to “significant commercial growth in the CAZ” and “public benefits” outweighed the material loss of daylight within nearby residential properties.
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Images © Derwent London and Lazari Investments
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