The UK’s High Court has overturned the national government’s refusal to allow the demolition of the famous 1930s Marks & Spencer retail building in Oxford Street to make way for a new 10-storey building.
The decision has knocked out Secretary of State for levelling up, housing and communities, Michael Gove’s refusal to allow demolition of the proposal on heritage and embodied carbon grounds, upending the fledging notion that UK might be leading on these goals.
A second part of our briefing (yet to be published) with Make Architects in London on legislation, regulations and industry drivers for a more sustainable built environment revealed that industry is dragging its feet on sustainability and that, currently, it’s winning the race.
The High Court ruling said Mr Gove had “misapplied rules” over the M&S proposal.
Reasons for the government rejecting the development included that it would harm nearby heritage landmarks and cause negative environmental impacts including increasing the carbon footprint and “failure to reuse some existing resources”.
The High Court’s Mrs Justice Nathalie Lieven said the levelling up secretary had “rewritten” planning policy.
M&S operations director Sacha Berendji earlier claimed that “the [initial government] ruling had made it ‘impossible’ for developers to interpret planning policy and could be a ‘disaster’ for the transition to net zero”.
The proposal for the new project designed by Pilbrow & Partners would have high sustainability standards, he said.
In response to the recent court decision he said: “The result has been a long, unnecessary and costly delay to the only retail-led regeneration on Oxford Street, which would deliver one of London’s greenest buildings, create thousands of new jobs and rejuvenate the capital’s premier shopping district.”
Architects Declare founders Steve Tompkins, Haworth Tompkins along with heritage organisations supported refusal of the redevelopment.
Mr Gove’s department said it was considering its next steps.