Westminster City Council has approved the revamped plans for the £500m-plus redevelopment of Marble Arch Tower. The original design – by Walkie Talkie architect Rafael Viñoly – was rejected because it did not contain enough office space.
Permission was given for the Almacantar development despite objections from the Royal Parks Agency, which is against construction of a high-rise tower at Marble Arch, and the Marylebone Association which slammed the designs as “uninspiring”.
Almacantar — which is led by former Land Securities executive Mike Hussey — is also behind the regeneration of the 33-storey Centre Point building towering over Tottenham Court Road Tube station. Work on transforming the 1966-built tower into 82 luxury apartments started in January.
The company’s vision for another of London’s landmark sites involves a 409,000 sq ft scheme, divided into 122,708 sq ft of commercial and office space, 52 luxury apartments and 35,520 sq ft of ground floor retail units.
The £520m Marble Arch project will involve the demolishing the existing 24-storey tower (pictured) and replacing it with two buildings of 17-storeys and seven storeys. The larger tower will include the apartments and shops while the other building will be devoted to commercial space and more shops on the lower ground and first floors.
Modifications to the first designs included devoting a greater proportion of office space by transforming the first level of residential area in the Western tower into office area. There will now be an additional floor of housing on the top of the tower.
“I am delighted that the revised plans for the Marble Arch Place scheme have been approved,” commented Kathrin Hersel, development director at Almacantar.
She added: “The plans will address The Portman Estate’s requirements for additional office floor space. It will also unlock a very important affordable housing project for the City of Westminster. This gateway location overlooking the finest of the Royal Parks deserves a world class development.”
The social housing element of the scheme will be provided on an adjoining site at 466-490 Edgware Road with the development new mixed tenure housing and retail scheme. Forty-seven of the 76 new homes will be affordable. The development will also see the reinstatement of the site’s disused petrol filling station — claimed to be the first new petrol station in London for over 10 years.
Almacantar acquired the original Marble Arch Tower in 2011 for £80m. Work on its replacement is expected to start later this year and be completed by 2018.
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