Mayor refuses to intervene in Oxford Street M&S demolition

Sadiq Khan is to allow Marks & Spencer to go ahead with the controversial bulldozing of its London Oxford Street store, just days after saying he would reconsider the move. London’s mayor said he has no grounds on which to halt the project, which has attracted significant criticism in recent months from sustainability experts and some corners of the built environment industries. M&S wants to tear down its art deco store, which is almost 100 years old, and replace it with a 650,000 sq ft office-led development with two-and-a-half floors of retail space and a gym.  Westminster City Council  sparked significant backlash when it approved the application late last year. Simon Sturgis, an expert on low carbon and the built environment, warned in a subsequent report for Cundall and the GLA that the scheme was directly at odds with London planning policy. At the beginning of April, Khan said he would call in the scheme to reconsider a decision made on his behalf by deputy mayor Jules Pipe to let Westminster’s decision stand. However, today (12 April), a spokesperson for the mayor said: “The mayor can only intervene in council planning decisions where the proposed scheme does not conform with the London Plan.  “After a thorough assessment of this proposal, including the total carbon footprint involved, it was determined that grounds did not exist to allow the mayor to intervene. It will therefore remain with Westminster City Council to determine the application.” Debate over sustainability credentials The proposed scheme will contain 39,500 tonnes of embodied carbon. Offsetting this much CO2 would require M&S to plant 2.4m trees, according to Westminster’s own report on the project. And the new building is not projected to achieve net zero carbon, meaning it does not meet the requirements of Westminster’s own City Plan – and requires a carbon offset payment of £1,198,134 to compensate for this. Sturgis’ report went even further, warning that the total embodied carbon cost of the scheme would be 53,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over 60 years. Sturgis also pointed out that the proposed 30-year shelf life of the replacement building’s facades did not measure up to the existing blocks on the site, which have lasted for 90, 52 and 36 years respectively. But an update from the mayor’s office indicated that this was not enough to run contrary to the London Plan, which aims to make London net zero by 2030. [caption id="attachment_1116376" align="alignright" width="847"] Image © Pilbrow & Partners[/caption] The GLA said that when the application was originally considered on 7 March, its assessment found the carbon saving of the refurbishment of the existing building would be countered by its poor energy efficiency, and the refurbished buildings would have a larger total carbon footprint than a new build. Fred Pilbrow, head of the scheme’s architect Pilbrow & Partners, has previously said the redevelopment “is more sustainable than any refurbishment could ever be”. The application will go back to Westminster Council for sign-off. Only Michael Gove, the housing, communities and local government secretary, now has the power to stop the development going ahead. But Sturgis told the Evening Standard newspaper today: “I never thought that a Labour mayor of London would prove to be less progressive on climate change than a Conservative government – and this decision just after the publication of the IPCC report making clear the urgency of the climate emergency.” Henrietta Billings, director of Save Britain’s Heritage, said: “These proposals do not comply with national net zero legislation to reduce carbon emissions, or the mayor’s own policy to prioritise retrofit. “If the London mayor is serious about tackling climate change, this cycle of trashing and rebuilding from scratch must stop. This decision flies in the face of national and London-wide policy, and goes against the advice of the mayor’s own sustainability advisor. “We call on M&S to stick to their ambitious sustainability goals and rethink their plans. The environmental cost of demolition and rebuild of this building just doesn’t stack up when measured against a comprehensive retrofit alternative.” An M&S spokesperson said: “We are continuing to make progress on our plans to invest in the west end of Oxford Street for the long term by establishing a new, vibrant M&S store fit for modern retail, along with best in class sustainable office space. “We will keep the local community updated as our plans progress.” READ MORE: The great divide: redevelopment vs refurbishment To send feedback, e-mail alex.daniel@eg.co.uk or tweet @alexmdaniel or @EGPropertyNews Image © Westminster City Council