Landsec’s plans for the redevelopment of 55 and 65 Old Broad Street, EC2, have been approved by the City of London Corporation’s planning committee.
The developer said that the £450m Fletcher Priest-designed scheme will transform the “currently harsh and impermeable site” into “anything but a conventional City tower”.
Landsec submitted plans to build a 23-storey office and retail block to replace the existing building at 55 and refurbish the five-storey block at 65, EG revealed in June. The FTSE 100 REIT bought the block for £87m in 2020.
The planning meeting saw a lengthy two-hour debate in which committee member William Upton said the plans were trying to do “too much” and that the additional office offering did little to negate the design harm the development poses to neighbouring heritage assets. This sentiment was shared by fellow committee members Sue Pearson and Marianne Fredericks, according to a summary of the meeting from the City Property Association.
Those in support of the application included committee member Brian Mooney, who welcomed the plans on the grounds of the substantial public realm improvements they would provide. This was followed by deputy chairman Graham Packham who praised the plans, which he said would “significantly improve” the listed Victorian Bath House on the site, which other members agreed upon.
Objections were heard from the Victorian Society, which raised concerns about the proposed scheme’s “lack of deference” to the Bath House and expressed uncertainty about the effect this would have on the Bath House’s future economic viability.
Other parties including Hive Curates and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama spoke in support of the application. The Grade II listed Victorian Bath House, which EG reported is set to be overseen by the Guildhall School of Music & Drama as an open community and cultural space, will be refurbished and restored to provide a cultural offering.
Despite the original proposals for the scheme receiving 352 objections over fears that the development would cause significant damage to heritage assets, the scheme was granted approval.
When complete the scheme will comprise a larger 270,000 sq ft office building for corporate tenants.
The smaller building at 65 Old Broad Street will provide retail, café studio and office space, plus additional cultural and event space for the area. It will be positioned as an incubator for SMEs and independent start up businesses in the creative, cultural or light industrial industries.
The ground and first floors of the building will include space for select businesses that have traded for less than 10 years, is not a subsidiary of a larger company that has traded for more than a decade and does not employ more than 10 full-time staff.
The remaining floors will feature flexible office and studio space with at least 25 affordable desks, at no more than 70% market rent, for qualifying users plus desks with no discount for general users. No more than five desks will be allowed per organisation.
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