Could corporate nimbyism be development’s new plague?

EDITOR’S COMMENT If you were in the City of London this week, you would have had a ringside seat at one of the greatest displays of irony, as owners and occupiers of some of the very many tall buildings in the Square Mile objected to a tall building being built in the Square Mile. Welcome to the planning meeting for 1 Undershaft, EC3, the former headquarters of Aviva, which is nestled in the City’s tall buildings cluster with the Gherkin, the Lloyd’s building, the Cheesegrater and others. And welcome to the rise of corporate nimbyism. Perennial Group and Stanhope had submitted plans to turn the 380,000 sq ft, 28-storey now vacant office block into a 74-storey, 1.6m sq ft tower. Plans that were recommended for approval. But on 2 July, following a flurry of last-minute objections from corporate neighbours to the site, the decision was deferred. Lloyd’s of London chair Bruce Carnegie-Brown declared that the 1 Undershaft plans would result in a loss of space at street level that was a “really important convening space” for the insurance sector. This objection came from the same business that not so long ago was looking to move out of the building as the need for face-to-face dealings dwindled post-pandemic. It decided to stay, no doubt when landlord Ping An offered it a better deal than it could get elsewhere. CC Land’s UK head of development Justin Black re-iterated that the loss of St Helen’s Square would have a “detrimental impact” on occupiers in its building – the Cheesegrater – resulting in the loss of daylight and views. EG’s office is just over the road from St Helen’s Square and I can confirm that the actual “really important convening space” is not in that dark, already overlooked area, but at Leadenhall Market where there is beer, and rosé and a host of other tempting beverages. Call me cynical if you like, but I can’t help but think there might be other motives at play here. Does the City office market need more competition for space? Could a fresh new tower, with high-level views, multi-layered, publicly accessible spaces, including a podium garden and education and cultural spaces, be exactly what neighbouring landlords don’t want in their back gardens? The Cheesegrater is now a decade old. And while it was a shiny, cool new space back in 2014, could it be feeling a little bit tired to its occupiers today? Radius data shows lease breaks from the early 2030s, probably just about the time a new 1 Undershaft could come on stream. Now, I am being a bit naughty here as, while Black objected to this Undershaft scheme, he isn’t objecting to any development there. But there is something that just doesn’t feel quite right about these objections. These are plans for a tall building, with proposals for improved public realm and high sustainability credentials, in an area designated for towers. Public realm at ground level in the City – outside of Spitalfields – is, let’s face it, pretty crap. You don’t come to this area of the City to bask in squares, that’s not how the City works, and I’m pretty sure we’ve gone too far down the development line to reverse that. I’m not actually a fan of tall buildings. I think they do block out the light and, if you’ve ever tried to cycle down Bishopsgate on a moderately gusty day, the towers turn the street into a vicious wind tunnel. But the corporate nimbyism shown here is verging on the ridiculous. The City, our cities, need owners and occupiers to come together to support growth not block it. Yes, we need to make sure that there is space to enjoy collaboration and convening. Yes, we need natural light in our workspaces to be more productive, but do we need to air these issues right at the end of the planning process? And should players in the built environment know better than to throw a spanner in the works just as a green light is ready to be switched on? Nimbyism is enough of a plague already for the real estate sector, let’s not let corporate nimbyism be the new hurdle we need to overcome.