University of Westminster to replace 1930s building with seven-storey library
Westminster council has unanimously approved plans by Perkins & Will to demolish a former NHS health centre and replace it with a seven-storey library for the University of Westminster.
The 115 New Cavendish Street scheme will replace Latimer House, a four-storey 1930s building on Hanson Street in Marylebone which has been vacant since it was purchased by the university in 2016.
The existing brick building, which is not listed and is not within a conservation area, had been previously used as a general health centre and clinic by the NHS.
Perkins & Will’s plans for the site would create a new library and student services facility connected to the university’s wider Cavendish campus, fully integrating it with surrounding university buildings.
The proposals include a gridded bronze-coloured metal facade designed to sit between two concrete towers on either side of the site and a new entrance on Hanson Street.
Westminster’s planning officers, who recommended the application for approval ahead of Tuesday’s planning committee meeting, said the demolition of the existing building was “regrettable” but accepted the university’s argument that the building’s constraints prevented its retention.
The project team includes Gleeds as QS, Fusion as project manager, Price & Myers on structures, Savills on planning, Alan Baxter on heritage, Steer on transport, Kanda on engagement and Buro Happold on MEP.
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