EDITOR’S COMMENT As we move closer and closer to a general election and the inevitable fresh proposals to reform the planning system, perhaps we could nudge whichever party comes into power to read a rather interesting tale.
This is a story about a property owner trying to create a space that not only delivers income for itself but brings a bit of life back to the city. But its attempts are being thwarted by planning. Common sense and economic sense are being shoved to the side, because the rules say no.
CLS Holdings is desperately trying to obtain a change of use for Artesian – an art deco office block in Aldgate that it bought from Derwent London and LaSalle Investment Management for almost £54m back in 2019. It is a nice building. It is in a pretty decent part of London. There are plenty of transport connections. It is close to the City and Spitalfields. It’s Aldgate and that’s pretty cool, right? It should be easy to get a tenant in. The 91,000 sq ft block is going for £47.50 per sq ft – a reasonable asking rent.
But CLS and its agents, Cushman & Wakefield and Compton (both leaders in EG Radius’ most active rankings FYI), just can’t get an occupier to sign. And they’ve been trying since March 2020.
There is zero demand for office use, yet Tower Hamlets Council is refusing to allow CLS to change the use of the building on the ground of “loss of office space”. Talk to any decent adviser about the Aldgate office market and they will tell you it is just as tricky as the office market in Canary Wharf.
But what this building is seeing demand from is educators. Over the past year, six universities have looked at Artesian. All have had to walk away because they are not allowed to occupy the space. Cushman says there are a further 10 active requirements, collectively for close to 500,000 sq ft, from universities, for which this building – and no doubt many other vacant office buildings – would be perfect.
“If Artesian benefited from an educational use, the building would be occupied by now,” says Cushman in its latest plea to the council for change of use.
This goes to the nub of the problem with our planning system. Multiple reforms, reams of paperwork, condition after condition have taken the human out of the process. No, not even the human. It has taken the brains out of planning. Planning today is all about ticking boxes and following rules. Computer says no.
It shouldn’t be hard for any council to see that change of use here is for the benefit of the location for which it is meant to be a custodian. Tower Hamlets should have a focus on delivering vital services for its residents – we talked about that last week. Surely, bringing income into the area, bringing people and demand, is delivering a vital service.
Getting this building let to a reputable tenant – this is education let’s not forget, CLS isn’t asking for permission to turn it into a candy store, a vape shop or the arcades we’ve seen pushed forward elsewhere – can only be good for Aldgate and its surrounds. The letting will bring people to the area. People use goods and services. They buy stuff. They create revenue and profit for other businesses.
Have planners talked to the local sandwich shop owners, the market stall operators in Spitalfields and the local pubs? Would they rather an empty office building or have some students studying there? Might that be good for their business too?
Whichever flavour of government does get into power next, it needs to not just reform planning but bring the brains back to it. It needs to level it up with more skilled practitioners, of course, but also needs to add a bit of flexibility. It needs to allow common sense. It needs to allow a presumption in favour of what is economically and socially good for an area.
Rules are great and we need them to give us direction, but they can also bind us to the wrong decisions. I’m not going to suggest that rules are made to be broken, but they should be open to a little tweaking.
Good luck, CLS.
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