Author: Sue Cox

The expected resubmission of the application for the refurbishment of Alban Gate, 125 London Wall has been submitted to the City of London Planners. The reference number is 23/01115/FULL and the full application can be viewed here

As previously commented, we were informed that the proposals for the refurbishment of Alban Gate were to be updated to respond to the feedback given from the public consultation. We were assured that the new planning application would address the key objections voiced with the previously submitted planning application ie. no balconies, escalators to be kept and refurbished, no pocket park, reduction in changes to the podium level, more muted palette, etc. Looking through this application it would appear that this is indeed the case.

For a brief summary, the updated proposals can be found here

For more detailed information and representations about the proposals take a look at the Design & Access statements. Part 1 and Part 2 go through the plans and show visual depictions of what is being planned whilst Part 3 looks at Landscaping, planting and lighting.

Any comments or representations can be made here

From the feedback received from the residents’ meeting held on 8^th November (associated presentation can be viewed here), it was clear that the developers are not intending to proceed with the previously consented scheme and are instead planning to make a new application.

The following email was received from the Tenter House team which highlights that the original proposals for the scheme have been subject to change and that a public exhibition to show these revised plans is to be held on Tuesday 28^th November. Details of the background to the development can be seen on the TenterHouse website.

Details of Public Exhibition

As you may be aware, planning permission was granted in September 2020 for a new office building to replace the existing Tenter House. In addition to the provision of high-quality offices, that proposal included improvements to the surrounding public realm. Preparatory works are now commencing on-site, with consultation underway regarding full demolition. Since the scheme’s inception, we have been working with the City of London Corporation and neighbours to identify improvements to the plans, one of which includes maximising accessibility and permeability to the site and adjacent City Point Plaza. 

We are now ready to present these updated plans to the local community in a public exhibition. This public exhibition will be held on Tuesday 28 November, 4pm – 7pm at 26 Finsbury Square, EC2A 1DS. Senior members of the project team will be present to answer questions and speak with attendees. We will also be gathering formal feedback throughout this process.

Contact us

We hope to see you at the exhibition. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the proposals, please contact us on:

 E: tenterhouse@londoncommunications.co.uk

P: 0800 092 0425 

Our website https://tenterhouse.co.uk will also be kept up to date as the project progresses.

Those residents who had registered to attend an online meeting called to inform neighbours and interested parties about the preparatory works ahead of the demolition of Tenter House, 45 Moorfields will have already received notification that the date, location and format of the meeting has been changed.

The meeting will now be in-person rather than online and will be held on Wednesday 8^th November 2023 at 26 Finsbury Square. The time of the meeting is unchanged at 6 – 7.30pm.

London Communications Agency, the PR company working with the developers of the site, have sent out the following email with details of the new date and location for the meeting. This is shown in copy below for those who did not receive the details of these important changes.

Following on from our invite issued last week and after discussions we have had with nearby residents, we have identified a suitable venue in which to hold an in person meeting for this session, which we believe to be a better forum for communication and discussion.

We are therefore moving our originally scheduled online meeting on Monday 30^th October to Wednesday 8^th November at the nearby 26 Finsbury Square, EC2A 1DS. This in-person meeting will be held from 6 – 7.30pm on the third floor of this building.

The agenda remains the same as before, noted below, and will be attended by senior members of the team.

• Introduction to Freshwater
• Introductions to John F Hunt (contractor), Buro Four (project managers) and Montagu Evans (planning consultants)
• A summary of activity that has taken place on site to date
• Planned activity over the next 3 months
• Proposed logistics and vehicle movements
• The long-term programme
• Q/A

We apologise for any inconvenience arising from this change but do believe that this session will prove to be more productive and useful for attendees.

As before, anyone who is interested in the works but cannot attend the session can be provided the given presentation the following day.

This meeting is open to all nearby residents, but please do let us know if you are intending to come so we can get an idea of numbers for the room.

If you have any questions, please do let us know by emailing our dedicated address:  tenterhouse@londoncommunications.co.uk.

The BA has recently received the following email giving details of an online meeting to inform all neighbours and interested parties about the preparatory works ahead of the demolition of Tenter House, 45 Moorfields.

Online meeting on Monday 30^th October 6pm – 7.30pm

To inform the local community about forthcoming preparatory works and answer any questions, we will be holding an online meeting on Monday 30^th October between 6pm – 7.30pm, which will be attended by senior members of the Tenter House project team. We are holding this meeting after the upcoming half term break to allow for as many interested people to attend as possible.

Our proposed agenda for this meeting will be:

Introduction to Freshwater

• Introductions to John F Hunt (contractor), Buro Four (project managers) and Montagu Evans (planning consultants)
• A summary of activity that has taken place on site to date
• Planned activity over the next 3 months
• Proposed logistics and vehicle movements
• The long-term programme
• Q&A

Further public exhibition planned in week of 27^th November

This drop-in session will precede a further public exhibition in the week of 27^th November, which will be held in person, with the exact date and location to be determined.

Full details of this exhibition, which will provide more information on the future of the site, will be shared nearer the time and promoted widely.

You can sign up to our online meeting on 30^th October here.

For anyone who is interested in the works but cannot attend the session, we would be happy to share the given presentation and answer any follow up questions.

If you have any questions, please do let us know by emailing our dedicated address: tenterhouse@londoncommunications.co.uk.

Many residents will have gone along to the recent public consultation meetings, where members of the architects and development teams were on hand to discuss the proposals in fine detail.

For those who were unable to attend but are interested to see the detail of what is being proposed, a copy of the consultation presentation boards can be viewed here.

Any feedback and comments are welcomed by the development team ahead of the submission of the formal planning application.  

A recent meeting with the developers of Alban Gate, 125 London Wall and their team confirmed that the key objections voiced with the previously submitted planning application have been addressed.

The associated presentation can be viewed here.

Key points

• No balconies are now proposed for the exterior of the building to Monkwell Square or Wood Street South

• Changes to the podium level are reduced. There is an increased reception area, one retained retail unit (the old Jamies) and one removed retail unit (the old Pizza Express) which means the space for the Highwalk becomes larger.

• All escalators are now proposed to be kept and refurbished

• There will be no pocket park

• The whole scheme now has a much more muted palette, with the emphasis now on reuse and adaptation of existing finishes and integrated wayfinding

• Planters and more greenery to be added around the public realm areas

• The existing cladding will be cleaned up and retained

• These works will be the first phase of the proposed works on the building. The developers hope that the work can start and be completed in 2024 (broad indication of a 6-9 month timescale)

• It will be a requirement to keep the Highwalk open during the works

• The application for listing the building remains ongoing. Active engagement has been had with the C20 Society but it is all taking much longer than expected.

• Better wayfinding will be incorporated at street level (this is what was meant by the word “animation”)

• The statue is likely to be retained although this may change depending on the feedback received during the consultation 

The updated proposals can be found here

The feedback form is at the foot of the link. Please make your feelings known.

The BA has recently been informed that a new planning application for the refurbishment of the site is to be submitted.

The reason for this was described as follows: ‘….Arax Properties…are proposing to submit a new planning application for the refurbishment of Alban Gate (125 London Wall, Barbican, London EC2Y 5AS). We previously consulted on proposals for the site in September 2022 and subsequently submitted a planning application, but after considering comments by the local community and City Corporation officers, a decision has been made to prepare a new application. 

The proposals have now been updated to respond to the feedback from the local community and we are planning to submit a new application that addresses all the points and concerns raised. We have listened carefully to your comments and changed our proposals in line with feedback received. 

Key changes made to proposals

The key changes made in response to the feedback received are set out below: 

• Balconies are no longer proposed to Monkwell Square or Wood Street South. 
• Changes to the podium level are reduced. There is an increased reception area, one retained retail unit and one removed retail unit which means the space for the City Walkway becomes larger. 
• All escalators are now proposed to be kept and refurbished. 
• Use of neon colours has been toned down to a more muted palette, with the emphasis now on reuse, by working with and adapting existing finishes.  

The BA is obviously keen to see and discuss the changes that have been made but at face value they clearly sound positive.

Further information will be provided when available.

By way of background, back in June 2022 the BA and interested parties were invited to meet with the owners and architects involved with the site at 1-8 Long Lane. You may recall that the larger block of 1-12 Long Lane had already been granted planning permission for the demolition of the site and its replacement with a new office development.

However, the changing nature of working practices post the pandemic had led the owners to reconsider this proposal and they had come to the conclusion that the site at 1-8 Long Lane would be better converted into a boutique hotel. A meeting was held with interested members of the BA back in June 2022 where these proposals were put forward, with more detailed thoughts and proposals expected by the end of the year.

Public exhibition and consultation late September/early October 

Nothing had been heard since then….until recently when the developers reported that “These proposals for the creation of a new high-quality hotel providing approximately 125 guestrooms with enhanced levels of sustainability including an uplift in urban greening and vastly improved energy efficiency, would support the objectives of the culture mile and increase footfall in the area with long term employment opportunities and high-end amenity space”. 

Two public exhibitions will be taking place at the site

• Thursday 28 September, 3pm – 7pm
• Tuesday 3 October, 11am – 3pm

It is hoped that these consultations will provide everyone with the opportunity to see the proposals and provide any feedback.

You will recall that HUB and Bridges Fund Management recently purchased 45 Beech Street with the intention “to sensitively refurbish and repurpose the building as residential accommodation…..”.

At the beginning of June, a meeting was held with a number of interested residents from the Barbican during which there was the opportunity to meet representatives from HUB and architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and hear their preliminary ideas for the site. However, it was such early days in HUB’s ownership of the building that there was little hard detail as to their proposals and they were still in the process of evaluating the site and what may be feasible and what not.

The developers are now at the stage when they are able to share their thoughts on what is to be proposed and have notified the dates of forthcoming meetings and consultation.  

Workshop with representatives of neighbouring blocks

The developers plan to host another workshop at 45 Beech Street in the middle of September. They state that “This design update workshop would be an opportunity to share the proposals for the building and site ahead of our proposed public events later in September”. 

Wider public consultation later in September

In terms of wider public events and consultation, the developers will be initially be issuing a newsletter to local residents and launching an accompanying website . The newsletter will be issued as a hardcopy via Royal Mail to avoid it getting lost or misdirected.  

The newsletter reports that “The aim of this engagement is to introduce ourselves as the owners of 45 Beech Street to all of our neighbours, to set out our priorities for the site, and to invite local residents, businesses and stakeholders to engage with us on the proposals”.

Therefore, a public exhibition is to be held at 45 Beech Street on: 

• Thursday 28 September, 6.30pm – 9pm
• Saturday 30 September, 11am – 2pm

It is hoped that these consultations will provide everyone with ample opportunity to provide any feedback.

1 Silk Street

With Linklater’s new building rising ever higher at 20 Ropemaker Street, concerns/interest over what will become of its current site at 1 Silk Street are naturally growing. A preliminary meeting for nearby residents held recently with the developers/architects for the site did not really throw much light on the issue. The developers are Lipton Rogers Developments – projects completed by them include Broadgate, Paternoster Square, Royal Opera House, National Gallery, 22 Bishopsgate. More information can be seen on their website.

The architect is Kent Jackson – Design Director and Partner in Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He is also a “leader of SOM’s strategic climate action group…and ..strives to advance the firm’s pledge to meet the AIA 2030 and 2050 commitments towards a net-zero built environment”.  He is also Global Ambassador for the World Green Building Council. More information can be seen on the firm’s website.

So what do we know so far? Not very much to be frank as it is at such an early stage of the developers’ thought process. They say they have no preconceptions and are just keen to consult closely with and hear residents’ views, which has to be a positive. They appear to be well aware of residents’ concerns (increased height, loss of light etc) and are well aware of the restrictions of the site ie that there is no public realm to speak of (current building built right to the periphery). no greenery etc. They seem to be discussing a number of options and it is far too early to give any real idea of what might be proposed. All options – such as renovate, infill, redesign – are on the table. The good news is however that they are keen to have an open dialogue with us – and, given the location, with the Barbican Centre.

As for the probable timescale, Linklaters are to occupy 14 floors (c300,000 sq ft) of the new 27-storey building in Ropemaker Street from 2026.

Once more concrete proposals are forthcoming, residents can be more fully informed.  

Tenter House – pending demolition methodology

Planning permission for the demolition of the existing Tenter House, 45 Moorfields building and construction of an 18-storey office building with ground and first floor retail was granted back in September 2020.

It appears that this process is soon to begin and a Method Statement & Demolition Logistics plan has been submitted which can be viewed here.

1 Golden Lane – tree protection measures

The ‘alteration and extension’ (as it was described) of Cripplegate House, 1 Golden Lane is now well underway as nearby residents are only too aware.

A document describing the planned tree protection measures relating to the works has been submitted and can be read here.

£25m approved for Barbican Centre upgrade

City formally adopts pioneering new lighting guidance to meet net zero ambition

The City’s Planning and Transportation Committee has agreed to adopt a ground-breaking new initiative, that will require developers to submit detailed plans to minimise light pollution, at the early stages of their planning applications……The ‘Lighting SPD’ (Supplementary Planning Document) will provide guidance for developers on lighting buildings and the spaces between them, covering the design, delivery, operation, and maintenance of artificial light within the City of London.

The guidance…asks developers to produce a high-level Lighting Strategy early on in the building design process which will help to achieve a more sustainable city. Developers must also consider how lighting will complement surrounding architecture and heritage, as well as safety, accessibility and inclusion.

Let us hope that proves to be the case.

The full press release can be read here. 

Planning permission granted for Phase II Podium works

As everyone is probably well aware, planning consent for the second phase of the Podium works was granted at last month’s Planning Applications Sub Committee meeting.

The City’s press release covering this decision can be read here.

And finally….City approves 55 Bishopsgate scheme, the Square Mile’s third tallest tower

The City’s Planning Applications Sub-Committee has approved planning permission for the 55 Bishopsgate scheme. The accompanying press release states that this scheme will comprise a 63 storey (yes, 63!) and a 22 storey mixed-use building that ‘will feature a free to visit public roof top, with a biodiverse climate resilient garden for relaxation, events and educational opportunities…..The development would be a distinct, sustainable and elegant architectural addition to the consolidation of the City Cluster on the London skyline delivering 103,000 sqm of much needed office space. This will provide 14% of the projected office demand required for the Square Mile up to 2036, including co-working and affordable workspace’.

At 284 meters tall, 55 Bishopsgate will become the third tallest tower in the Square Mile, behind the 1 Undershaft scheme (305m) and 22 Bishopsgate (295 m).

The cluster just keeps getter bigger, higher…..and closer

The full press release can be read here.