Westminster council was expected to approve long-running plans for the redevelopment of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden at planning committee as Estates Gazette went to press.
In April, the council deferred a decision pending clarification of 10 details on the scheme. Earlier this year the ROH dropped plans for 120,000 sq ft of speculative offices in Russell Street which were intended to part fund the redevelopment and it is hoping for up to £50m of National Lottery funding instead.
The only commercial element left is 60,000 sq ft of ground-floor shoppping around two sides of the Piazza. The Covent Garden Community Association is still highly critical of the plans despite the dropping of the office block.
