A 49-storey skyscraper next to the Gherkin, EC3, has been slated for planning approval next week, despite objections from heritage groups.
The proposal by Bentall Greenoak’s central office fund WELPUT, submitted last year, would involve demolishing the existing seven-storey, 43,500 sq ft Bury House office block.
WELPUT said in its application to the City of London Corporation that the majority of the tower’s floorspace, around 274,000 sq ft, would be for class-E offices. The site, at 31 Bury Street, EC3, would also feature retail and community spaces.
According to planning documents, the proposed tower would be about 2m taller than 30 St Mary’s Axe just yards away from it, which stands at 180m.
Planners said that the mixed-use office tower would give “genuine public benefits to the wider community” because of an inbuilt community space, improvements to the public realm on the ground floor and the extra retail space it would create. They also said it would bring “significant aesthetic enhancement” to the local area.
This is despite objections from Historic Royal Palaces, which runs the Tower of London less than a mile away, which said it would have a “damaging visual effect” on views around the famous landmark.
City of London planners agreed that the plans would affect views of the Tower of London, even admitting that this would run contrary to several Local Plan policies.
The nearby Bevis Marks Synagogue also objected to the plans, saying it would deprive the building of light, while the increase in people passing along the street would hurt the building’s “historical and religious significance”.
But planners said: “Virtually no major development proposal is in complete compliance with all policies and in arriving at a decision it is necessary to assess all the policies and proposals in the plan and to come to a view as to whether in the light of the whole plan the proposal does or does not accord with it.”
To send feedback, e-mail alex.daniel@egi.co.uk or tweet @alexmdaniel or @estatesgazette
