Westminster Approves Four-Building Soho Square Development
Westminster City Council has approved plans for a major development of four linked buildings on Soho Square. The scheme includes the former home of the 20th Century Fox Film Corporation.
The Royal London UK Real Estate Fund brought the proposal. Committee members approved it at a meeting on Tuesday, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
What is planned
The finished complex would cover almost 9,000 square metres. It would have new office space, retail units and an archway onto Soho Square. The archway would give pedestrians a route from the square to Dean Street.
An eight-storey building would replace what is now 31-32 Soho Square and 65-66 Frith Street. Two further buildings, 22-25 Dean Street and 10 Chapone Place, would be refurbished. The area would grow by 2,477 square metres, and a new landscaped public courtyard would be fitted by Chapone Place.
Residential flats clustered in Townsend House, one of the existing buildings, would be incorporated into the development. Residents asked the developers for noise-reduction glazing on their rear windows and for heat pumps.
The scheme also provides 150 long-stay cycle spaces, seven of them for residents. The Dean Street building would hold affordable workspace for the community.
Alistair Martin of Simten Developments said the project was "about giving a long, underused part of Soho a sustainable future, one that represents the very best of Soho".
Opposition to the archway
The local community group and charity Soho Society opposes the archway and says the square should be protected as a space for "rest and recreation". Its chairperson, Tim Lord, said: "The purpose and role of Soho Square is respite."
He noted that Soho Square is protected under the London Squares Preservation Act 1931, which limits it to garden, rest and recreation use. He also argued the archway would disrupt the symmetry of the green space.
Source: BBC News