Patel Taylor’s plans for 35-storey Isle of Dogs tower also given council backing
A decision on a long-delayed office tower in Whitechapel designed by Foster & Partners has been deferred for a second time after councillors ignored the advice of planning officers to reject the proposals.
In the latest twist to plans which have been on the books since 2018, six Tower Hamlets councillors said they were minded to approve the 17-storey scheme at 2-6 Commercial Street, with one abstention.
A final decision will now be taken at a future committee meeting to allow planning officers to assess issues raised at the meeting and draw up planning conditions in a fresh report.
The 41,000sq m proposals were on the agenda for the council’s planning committee last month, also with a recommendation to refuse, but a decision was deferred to allow a site visit, which took place on 17 December.
Councillors said in yesterday evening’s committee meeting that the scheme would be an effective use of the site, which is currently a car park, and would reduce anti-social behaviour in the area including alleged drug dealing activity.
They also said that despite the site not being located in a designated tall building zone, the impact of the building’s height would be lessened as it was close to several existing tall buildings.
The vote was criticised by campaign group Save Britain’s Heritage, which attended the committee meeting. Conservation Officer for the group Lydia Franklin said the decision was a ”blow to the local community who have consistently and strongly pushed back against these controversial plans which are oversized and unnecessarily destructive.
She added: ”The current buildings are crying out for maintenance and we would welcome a proposal for office space on this prominent corner that reuses and restores them.
“Conservation areas are created to protect our historic environment and guide development in a particular context. A tall building in this location would make a mockery of these protections and erode this area’s unique character.”
The scheme was a redesign of a previous application for the site designed by Foster & Partners for a shorter, 14-storey building that was rejected in 2021 due to concerns over its height and impact on nearby heritage assets.
Although taller, the new proposals would retain the frontage of an existing building on the site while its massing would be stepped back compared to the original application.
Meanwhile, councillors voted to back the officers’ recommendation to approve a 35-storey residential building designed by Patel Taylor at the same committee meeting.
The 1 Selsdon Way scheme on the Isle of Dogs will see the demolition of an existing office building and the construction of 307 homes, 35% of which will be affordable.
It will take the form of a four-storey podium topped by a slender triangular tower faced with a yellow-coloured brick cladding.
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