The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
Just days after London Mayor Sadiq Khan decided that the controversial project could proceed despite embodied carbon concerns, Gove has ordered Westminster Council to pause the project.
The order, known as an Article 31 holding direction, gives the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), time to consider whether to formally call in the Pilbrow & Partners-designed scheme, before Westminster finalises planning permission.
M&S wants to replace its Edwardian store with a 10-storey building, which is targeting BREEAM Outstanding status and will include office space and a gym above a smaller shop alongside improvements to the surrounding streetscape.
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However, the scheme comes with an upfront carbon cost of almost 40,000 tonnes of Co2 - the equivalent of driving a typical car 99,000,000 miles, further than the distance to the Sun - and is incompatible with both national and GLA policy according to architect and net zero expert Simon Sturgis.
A highly critical report by Sturgis, commissioned by SAVE Britain's Heritage and first revealed by the AJ in January, was recently sent to Gove by the heritage lobby group, the AJ understands.
A spokesman for DLUHC told the Evening Standard the application will be 'assessed against published policy on calling-in applications and a decision will be issued in due course'.
At last year's Tory Party conference, Gove spoke of the problem of embodied carbon in building materials such as steel and concrete while one of his first major planning decisions was to reject Foster & Partners' Tulip Tower in London, partly on the grounds of embodied carbon.
Gove's intervention raises the prospect of a Conservative cabinet minister being seen to be more progressive on climate policy than Labour Mayor Khan, who has been outspoken on the climate emergency and is the chairman of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.
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Khan was forced to review an initial decision to allow Pilbrow's scheme to proceed after the GLA admitted that it had not considered the report from Sturgis - who co-authored the whole life carbon section of the London Plan - despite being sent it several times in advance.
Nevertheless, to Sturgis's fury, the London Mayor once again decided not to step in, arguing last week that the scheme is compatible with the London Plan despite its policies promoting reuse and retrofitting of existing buildings.
Responding to Gove's intervention, an M&S spokesperson said: 'The plans we have submitted to build a new, vibrant M&S store fit for modern retail and sustainable office space has been approved at every stage and strongly supported by the local community as a key part of the regeneration of an iconic part of London.
'As well as attracting new investment and footfall, a detailed assessment on the carbon impact across the whole lifecycle of the building was undertaken by independent experts [Arup] who concluded that the new build offered significant sustainability advantages over a refurbishment.'
SAVE Britain's Heritage said in a statement: 'We welcome this decision that suspends planning permission for M&S’s scheme while ministers consider whether to call in the application for public inquiry.
'The Secretary of State should call-in the proposals following the Simon Sturgis report which clearly shows that the demolition proposals do not comply with national net zero legislation to reduce carbon emissions.
'This is an issue of national and international importance - if we allow existing buildings to be demolished and replaced without properly prioritising comprehensive retrofit solutions, we will not meet our climate change commitments’.
Simon Sturgis, Pilbrow & Partners and Westminster Council have all been approached for comment.
Source:Shutterstock Ana Moskvina
Existing M&S building at Marble Arch
I might dislike his politics, but Gove has a brain. 50% of a buildings CO2 over 50 years comes from its construction. The development industry is London’s biggest industry. The financial, planning and construction incentives all point to tearing down perfectly good buildings to replace them with bigger ones, whether they are needed or not. The shame is that millions of tonnes of CO2 were emitted to construct the vast ghost towers at Vauxhall, massive empty safety deposit boxes in the sky. But if we’re not going to repeat these mistakes, and go on driving thousands of trucks to the sun, Gove needs to change the financial and planning regulations rapidly.
Excellent news. The mindless destruction of cultural and architectural icons, so blatantly nodded through by the mayor, simply to make modernisation seem 100% the ‘right’ thing, must be stopped. So much demolition in central London over the past several mayoralities, has absolutely NOT benefited London’s residents or visitors. The monstrosity at the top of Park Lane aka khan’s folly is an example of planning madness and that the ‘Tulip’ was also blocked should have been noted by the care-less planners on Westminster Council and ensured that the FULLEST AND MOST THOROUGH examinations of the M&S destruction had been done, which clearly was/is NOT the case.
Michael Gove certainly appears to be serious about protecting London – which is more than can be said about Mayor Khan. One has to hope that Gove calls in the M&S plan and blocks the rebuilding of this ICON of Oxford Street without further delay. The rebuild needs stopping immefiately, and professional refitting placed in the forefront of all such future planning in the WHOLE of London – including the City of London.
Thanks
Steve HW