Plans to partially demolish and replace Caltex House on Brompton Road head to committee next week
AHMM’s plans to redevelop the last remaining large office building in Knightsbridge are set to be given the go ahead next week following a series of design changes.
Planning officers at Westminster council have recommended the partial demolition, refurbishment and extension of the 1950s block at One Knightsbridge Green for approval ahead of a committee vote on 4 March.
The existing 11-storey building, known as Caltex House, is on a prominent site close to Harrods at the centre of the area’s central shopping strip on Brompton Road, a tourist hotspot known for its high end stores and luxury apartment blocks.
The Knightsbridge Neighbourhood Plan gives the building significant strategic importance as the sole major office site in an area which has lost several large office buildings to residential or retail redevelopments.
Designed for Berkeley Estate Asset Management (BERM), the proposals would retain 51% of the existing building’s structure and include the construction of an 11-storey newbuild block containing around 19,000sq m of office space.
An existing pub on the site called Tattersall’s Tavern, one of only two pubs left in Knightsbridge, would also be replaced in the same location on Raphael Street.
However, the layout of the pub as proposed in the original application submitted last June has been substantially changed and would now include a large basement area, an expanded ground floor and a much reduced first floor.
Space originally earmarked for a large restaurant is now proposed as office space, with the restaurant moved to the Raphael Street side of the building.
External changes to the scheme include the use of a light grey cladding with a matt finish on the newbuild office block in place of the shiny black cladding originally proposed and a setting back of the block’s seventh floor by 2.5 metres.
A pocket garden would now also be included on Raphael Street with space for a public art installation, while the main entrance for office space on Knightsbridge Green has been relocated to limit the impact on residential neighbours.
The design changes respond to feedback received during a consultation process last year.
The original application received a total of 67 objections, rising to 71 following the design amendments, with concerns focused on the loss of a post office on the site, a perceived negative impact on the character of the area and the scale and design of the proposals.
Other firms on the project team include Exigere on costs, CBRE on planning, Heyne Tillett Steel as structural and civil engineer, Blackburn & Co as project manager, Tavernor on townscape, Atelier Ten on sustainability and FMDC on facades.
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