How the tables have turned. It was only two days ago that the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors held a panel debate on the future of retrofit schemes and the ongoing impact of Michael Gove’s decision to reject Marks & Spencer’s Oxford Street plans. That decision has now been quashed by the High Court and what had been considered a watershed ruling for demolish and rebuild projects has been reversed.

While sustainability and heritage campaigners will react with dismay, high street retailers have already celebrated the sudden about turn. But what will happen now to the scheme in question?

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