by Duncan Lamb
Last week’s City of London planning committee meeting approved revised applications for two of the City’s major office schemes – MEPC’s redevelopment of Lee House on London Wall, and Nomura’s retained facade project at the former post office in St Martins-le-Grand.
Ironically, although the old post office is only a short distance from St Paul’s, and Lee House is part of a 1960s “desert”, it was Nomura who were upping their permission – by around 180,000 sq ft to 411,000 sq ft – while MEPC have had to reduce the bulk of their scheme by 20%.
However, as was pointed out at the meeting, although the bulk of the building has been reduced by this percentage, the actual floorspace has only been reduced by 3%.
The Terry Farrell Partnership-designed scheme still bridges London Wall and, although it seems to have lost some of its aesthetic power, has met with a better reception from local residents.
Commending the “courtesy and understanding” of the developer and architect, the Wallside and Postern Residents Association have given support to the revised scheme.
Despite this, the planning committee, conscious of the reversal by the Common Council of their last recommendation on the scheme, debated the new proposals at great length – worried about their credibility should the council refuse again.
Finally, the application was approved by a vote of 21 to 5 and the representatives from MEPC, Farrell and agents Baker Harris Saunders and Jones Lang Wootton, left with fingers crossed for the full council meeting on March 12.
The committee then moved on to the expanded proposals for St Martin’s-le-Grand Post Office. Nomura, who bought the building from Kumagai Gumi and Glengate last August, already had permission for 240,000 sq ft and made the revised application because “the previous scheme was unsuitable for their use”.
Working out at a plot ratio of 7.4:1, the new proposals would increase the height of the building by around 20ft.
Although there were criticisms over the visual effect on the building and about the plot ratio, the application was approved by 16 votes to 8.
