Row over East End’s secret skyscrapers
Row over East End’s secret skyscrapers: Shoreditch residents and architecture experts have attacked the ‘astonishing secrecy’ surrounding plans to build a cluster of skyscrapers on Bishopsgate Goods Yard. Developers Hammerson and Ballymore are understood to be behind two tower blocks planned for the largely derelict Bishopsgate Goods Yard, while another is on the drawing board for the next door Norton Folgate site.
Critics, including historian and long-time Spitalfields resident Dan Cruickshank (you’ll have seen him on TV) and Save Shoreditch secretary William Palin have expressed horror at the plan … and also at the fact that both Tower Hamlets and Hackney Councils are keeping quiet about the skyscrapers in their discussions of the plans for the sites. They claim that two public drop-in sessions last week on plans for the Goods Yard site made no reference to the towers.
‘The level of secrecy is astonishing,’ said Cruickshank. ‘These towers will create monumental shadows. People want to know what is going on. It will so fundamentally change the experience of living in that area that people’s views need to be gathered and responded to.’ Palin described the blocks at ‘tentacles … these proposals are a monstrous assault on the special character of this district and the skyline of the capital. We call on the mayor to stop this madness.’
A spokeswoman from Tower Hamlets confirmed it had not yet received any planning applications for the Goods Yard. ‘Tower Hamlets Council is not engaged in any formal pre-application discussions,’ she added. Robert Allan, assistant director for developers Hammerson, said: ‘Hammerson and Ballymore [another developer] are in the early stages of preparing proposals for the Bishopsgate Goods Yard site. The local authority is preparing and consulting on the draft supplementary planning document, and following its consultation, we will develop our options for the scheme further.’
The Save Shoreditch campaign numbers artists Tracy Emin and Rachel Whiteread among its members.