Southwark Council gave a developer the go-ahead to tear down a 1970s office block next to London Bridge, to be replaced by a 22-storey tower.
The council gave developers CIT the green light to knock down Colechurch House and build a “commercial-led” block in its place. That means mostly offices, shops, a gym and several food and drink outlets, as well as some public green space.
Tooley Street planning officers said that the brutalist Colechurch House, built in 1973, was of “low architectural quality”. Others disagree. Jo Underhill, a specialist architectural photographer and author, called Colechurch House a “great building”.
The new 104-metre development will also include two new theatres, with 250 and 150 seats respectively, which are likely to go to Southwark Playhouse.
The staircase from Duke Street Hill to Tooley Street will be removed, but developers will add new north-south pedestrian routes, according to council planning officers.
Objections came in from the Shard, which said the new building would “fail to respond to the local character and townscape of London Bridge and the primacy of the Shard”, as well as the London Bridge Experience.
Commenting after planning permission was given, CIT’s head of development Steve Riddell called the new block “a genre-defining building that will lead the way for sustainable office space, placemaking and community value in the heart of London Bridge – one of the capital’s best connected locations that has evolved dramatically over the past decade.”
This is the second local site that CIT have got planning permission for in the area recently. In June, the developers were given the go-ahead for a twenty-storey tower at Vinegar Yard on St Thomas’ Street – the other side of London Bridge station – after mayor Sadiq Khan stepped in to overturn Southwark Council’s original decision to refuse permission.
http://southwarknews.co.uk/news/health/vinegar-yard-sadiq-khan-overturns-southwark-council-decision-to-build-twenty-story-tower-in-bermondsey/