The London Stock Exchange Group’s plans for a mammoth office redevelopment in Shoreditch have got the green light from planning authorities – but not before facing condemnation from local residents.
Hackney Council’s planning committee voted to approve the 410,000 sq ft office-led scheme on Wednesday, despite a neighbourhood association describing the proposed building as “a game of architectural Twister”.
The Hackney Society’s objection letter said: “[The proposal] stretches and contorts itself across the site trying to be all things to all people… It has ended up the sum total of the pragmatic forces acting upon it but fails to transform those forces into a cogent whole. By trying to be all things to all situations it ends up not satisfying any.”
Representatives of the nearby soaring residential tower One Crown Place also warned that its construction will cause an “incredibly poor environment for future residents”.
However, planning committee chair Vincent Stops hit back at OCP’s representatives, saying: “Your developer built a very high building right on the edge of your site where one would expect another building to pop up at some time in the future. To be a bit provocative – how many floors did they think were going to be built just over the road from them?”
The 20-storey tower includes office use across the upper portion of the building, with retail space on the ground. It also incorporates around 35,000 sq ft of urban greening, with plant-lined terraces and other green spaces around the scheme.
Despite the controversy, planning officers said they liked the design and welcomed proposals to retain facades from some original buildings.
They also accepted that “very significant impacts” will hit the northern facade of the luxury OCP block as a result of the new scheme. However, they added that the downsides were unavoidable if development to a similar scale as OCP and other buildings in Shoreditch is to take place.
The scheme, which was designed by Make Architects, is expected to be sold by LSEG in the coming weeks, in a £150m deal with a consortium between Dutch developer EDGE and Japanese investor Mitsui Fudosan.
The two sides are understood to have agreed terms after months of intense bidding on the site. It is set to be EDGE’s second London office development after it revealed plans for a tower at London Bridge last year.
‘Loss of sunlight’
The confrontation between OCP and developers comes weeks before residents move into the new residential tower, which is expected to lose as much as 80% of its views of the sky from some homes.
OCP development manager Chris John said: “At the outset we wish to make it clear that we are not against a building of scale coming forward on the adjoining site, in this location, and recognise it is a site in the City Fringe opportunity area and central activities zone.
“However, we do have very real concerns about the amenity impacts in the OCP residents in the North Tower, primarily in the bulk and scale of the proposed development being pushed to the south east part of the application site.”
However, representatives of LSEG said: “In the first instance, we reached out at pre-application stage to the owners of OCP through our consultation organisation. The offer to meet and discuss was not responded to. We don’t know why that happened, but the offer was made. If there was a breakdown in communication, I don’t know where that existed.
“With regard to daylight and sunlight, clearly there is a difference in professional opinion. You have your views and advice, and we have had our views and advice. [Hackney] officers have assessed it and aligned their judgments with our own.”
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