Mayor of London Boris Johnson has called in British Land’s planning application for Blossom Street, E1, a 350,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme on the City fringe, after it was rejected by Tower Hamlets council.
The mayor will now determine the application himself at a hearing later this year.
The move comes after the application was recommended for approval by Tower Hamlets’ planning officers but rejected by councillors on the borough’s planning committee in the face of vociferous local protests.
A spokesman for the mayor said: “London’s population is growing and the mayor has been clear about the critical need to prepare for the future, which means creating more office space to meet the expected 861,000 new jobs based in the capital in the next 20 years.
“The mayor has called in this development, which would create more office space in a designated opportunity area in Norton Folgate. He is aware of the heritage concerns raised by the borough and local residents and will now carry out a detailed planning assessment.”
Blossom Street would see the redevelopment and partial retention of historic warehouse buildings in the Spitalfields area to provide several office buildings, 13 shops and 40 flats.
Local campaigners objected to the AHMM-designed scheme on the grounds that it would likely attract a large corporate occupier and change the character of the SME-friendly area as well as demolishing or radically altering some of the 19th century structures on the site, which sit within the Elder Street Conservation Area.
More than 500 people demonstrated against the proposal, forming a human chain around the buildings, and 576 letters of objection were submitted to the local council, according to the Spitalfields Trust.
British Land sought to combat the criticism following consultation on the scheme, pointing out that 60% of the office floors would be 3,500 sq ft or smaller and therefore suitable for small and medium-sized businesses; that 30% of the housing would be affordable; and that much of the original fabric of the historic warehouses would be retained.
Nigel Webb, head of developments at British Land, said: “We welcome the mayor’s intervention. It is appropriate that he assesses a development in these circumstances to ensure that all the arguments are properly considered.
“The majority of the Blossom Street site has an existing planning permission from 2011. This could be implemented now, but we have improved on this consent through engagement with the local community, and we hope the mayor will understand the considerable merits of our scheme.
“This is a heritage-led development in a conservation area which will integrate with and enhance its surroundings, at the same time as providing an environment in which the tech and creative sector can flourish and grow.”
The City of London owns the freehold to the site, which it assembled over more than two decades.
It sold British Land an option to redevelop the site in phases in 2013.
