Westminster City Council has approved plans by Daejan Investments to demolish a group of buildings along Oxford Street, Wardour Street and Berwick Street and replace them with a new single building.
Rising up to seven storeys, the new building will reinstate the nightclub currently in the basement of the building and include 30,599 sq ft of retail units fronting onto Oxford Street and 60,773 sq ft of office space over the second to sixth floors.
The Victorian Society had objected to the scheme due to the loss of two unlisted buildings of merit – 137 Oxford Street and 55 Berwick Street – and said it considered the proposed replacement to be “poor-quality architecture”.
At the planning committee meeting, two of Westminster’s councillors voted to refuse the planning application on the grounds that they felt the public benefit of the scheme did not outweigh the harm to the built heritage.
All other members approved the scheme, agreeing that if the council wanted to deliver a meaningful increase in floorspace then there is a certain amount of demolition that will need to take place in the borough.
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