Network Rail submitted redrawn plans for the station’s redevelopment to The City of London in April, having dropped previous plans for a 21-storey building after the authority received more than 2,000 objections.
A planning statement on behalf of Network Rail by consultancy firm Newmark says the revised proposal has been “designed expressly to minimise the areas of harm to heritage assets and to preserve the established townscape and views”.
But planning officers at Tower Hamlets Council say the development would “directly impact the setting” of two conservation areas in the borough, as well as the listed Christ Church building in Commercial Street, Spitalfields.
However they said they could not properly judge the effect as images provided in the application’s visual impact assessment only showed a dotted line marking the outline of the buidling against the skyline.
In response to a formal consultation by The City, council planning officers said the assessment “shows a number of views that would directly impact upon the setting of the Brick Lane and Fournier Street Conservation Area, as well as the Artillery Passage Conservation Area, and a number of listed buildings including the Grade I listed Christ Church, Spitalfields.”
They added: “The council are concerned that these views show wirelines of the proposed building and therefore do not allow for a meaningful assessment of the impact of the proposals on Tower Hamlets heritage assets.
“It is clear that there would be impacts from the proposals as they remove a portion of sky space within the backdrop of Fashion Street. However, due to a lack of detail in the [impact assessment] a proper assessment cannot be carried out.”
Image taken from the townscape and visual impact assessment shows the view down Fashion Street from Brick Lane, with a green dotted outline of the proposed tower above Liverpool Street station (Image: Donald Insall Associates) Council planning officers also said it was “unfortunate” that the tower would cause a loss of skyspace in the area around the station, which they described as “a gateway for many visitors to Tower Hamlets” and a “transitional space” between the borough and the City.
They said: “In terms of scale, it is unfortunate that proposals would result in the loss of open skyspace above the station, although to a lesser extent than the recent withdrawn application.
“It would also reduce the level of relief when leaving the station and approaching from the streets within Tower Hamlets.”
Planning officers added that they felt the proposed new, glazed tower “appears highly disconnected from the brick and stone entranceway”.
They said: “The result is a tower which awkwardly sits on top of the entrance, overpowering and undermining this transitional space on the edge of the City and Tower Hamlets, creating somewhat of a more imposing gateway.”
Network Rail’s townscape and visual impact assessment contains views from six sites in Tower Hamlets from which it says the new building would be visible.
These include the view down Fashion Street from Brick Lane from which it says the upper floors and roof terrace would be visible. However the assessment argues this would “sit comfortably” next to other visible tall, glazed buildings and would “therefore have an overall neutral effect” on the view.
The assessment makes a similar argument about the view from the north of Fashion Street looking west towards Bishopsgate, the view down White’s Row from Commerical Street and the view from the south west corner of Bishop’s Square.
It says the building would be “barely discernable” from Allen Gardens and from Fournier Street’s junction with Wilkes Street.
Network Rail’s planning statement argues that the proposal “represents a sophisticated design response by leading architects which would provide exemplary architecture” that fits in with the surrounding area.
The statement says Liverpool Street station needs to be redeveloped so that it can cope with an expected increase in passenger numbers in the coming decades.
It adds that the new office building above would help to finance the improvement works, while also helping to meet the “significant need” for office space in the City.
The application is under consideration by The City of London.
