Bermondsey Street : The Towers of London?

London Bridge isn’t so much falling down as it is rising from the ashes to become a new cultural business quarter. After years of neglect and stagnation, plans are finally breathing new life into this central London locale.

On exiting London Bridge station you cannot fail to notice the towering concrete core of the highly acclaimed London Bridge Tower or ‘The Shard of Glass’ as it is most commonly known. The 309 meter, 72 floor tower will become the tallest building in Europe, designed by world renowned architect Renzo Piano and developed by property group Sellar; The Shard aims to be a new symbol of hope for a prosperous post recession London.

SE1 and the surrounding London Bridge Quarter had been identified as a perfect location for key development and regeneration over a decade ago by Southwark council. As with any major project planned for the Capital there are numerous hurdles to face before the first workman can even think of picking up a reflective jacket.

The last quarter of 2008 saw the final destruction of the 100meter Southwark Towers, by 2009 the site was cleared and the Shard’s preparation work could finally begin.
A stone’s throw away from the Shard construction site lays an empty car park surrounded by unwelcoming wire netting and broken gates. This desolate unused space houses one warehouse, complete with smashed windows, peeling paintwork and buckled woodwork.

Wedged between London Bridge station and Bermondsey Street the location benefits from great transport links and cultural entertainment facilities, therefore it was inevitable that this prime location would be proposed for development.
16th of January 2009, the Building Design online release an article stating that Sellar(the developers of the Shard) are proposing to construct 3 towers (named the Three Houses)on the site with varying heights between 100 and 250meters, the later becoming the tallest residential tower in the Country.
Numerous crude mock ups were instantly produced for the use of the national media, none of which have actually been created by Sellar. An officially released scoping report suggests the towers will have rather small footprints which in turn produce a thinner structure; combined with its height this would suggest the towers are designed with real soar.

The quiet year that followed was filled with the inevitable deep recession hold backs, a developer’s nightmare. Submission of plans were delayed and postponed; the three towers appeared to be nothing more than a fantasy project falling foul to the economic crisis.

December 3rd 2009, the Bermondsey Street Christmas festival is well underway; the narrow street filled with the smell of mulled wine and the twinkling of Christmas lights. Above the street at the Wine and Spirit education trust the Bermondsey Street Area partnership are about to sit down with Sellar to hear the latest news on the newly renamed Three Spires.
No actual renders were shown, not even a massing diagram. All that was shown was the effect the third tower would have upon Bermondsey Street; Sellar stated they had redesigned the lower levels with the sloping facade to reduce the designs bulk on street level. The chairman of BSAP seemed to appreciate the new design measures that had been put in place, but with no concrete plans to look at, the audience were still unconvinced.

The Street has a rich heritage of industry and craftsmanship that can be seen through its streetscape of warehouses and museums. When asked if the contentious Warehouse on site was to be included in the final designs, the answer was No.
Conservation has never before been so relevant or important in London; groups like English Heritage have been propelled into the media spot light to ‘fight’ for London’s history. With all the hurdles and struggles faced when planning a new build of this scale in the capital I was surprised that Sellar had not included the Warehouse as a damage mitigation compromise, it was always going to be a contentious issue and one that could have been resolved before it even started.

The next meeting was to be held in January 2010, the new plans for the Three Spires were to be released at the meeting, and there was a high level of anticipation from the locals, the action groups and existing business partners around London Bridge. The plans however... were not released.
Once more the news fell silent, all attention was being focused on the now rising Shard of Glass which at 20 stories high loomed over the deserted Three Spires site. That was until April the 11th 2010; rumours in the architectural world were that new rendered posters had been displayed at the site. Had Sellar just gone ahead and released the plans without a meeting? Surely not...

Posters covered the area from construction site to lamp posts, complete with the official Southwark council logo. One glance at this rather crude render showed that in fact the image produced was just Richard Seiferts 117 meter Centre Point. Unless Sellar had severely cut back the budget on their design department it was clear that this poster had been created to misinform the public about the Three Spires proposal.
A quick call to Sellar confirmed that this poster was most defiantly nothing to do with them, and action would be taken immediately. Southwark council were also not best pleased that someone had used their official logo without use. 2 days later and there are few posters left; although a new poster has appeared, this time an official letter from Southwark council demanding that all posters be removed with immediate effect but court action is taken.

Shiva LTD, a property development company were ironically behind the poster campaign. With offices on Bermondsey Street I can understand why they would have concerns about the impact on the area and the implications it could pose upon their own business. After following this project on various internet forums and statements from Shiva it turns out that once again, this panic and scaremongering to fellow SE1ers is actually a personal phobia of tall buildings and has very little to do with heritage and design merit. The question I keep asking myself is how can you object to a development when you haven’t even seen the design?

You could say that Shiva have just responded directly to the lack of information from Sellar by creating the poster, or they may have posed serious damage to the planning process but undermining the local residents real concerns.
Apparently the campaign has attracted around 100 objections to a “high buildings zone”, but for a Borough with a popular of over 278,000 this all seems insignificant and screams of hypocrisy.
The campaign continues, and we shall wait with baited breathe to see the final designs before they are submitted for planning. It worries me that in this day and age we seem to be judging a design before it has even been designed, basing our views on heights and figures rather than its architectural merits.
London is a cosmopolitan global city, rich in history and life, but we cannot rest on our laurels, for areas to benefit the community and remain prosperous they must embrace the future and adapt to the needs and demands of modern day London. With a well thought out planning process this does not mean sacrificing our history or heritage.
The battle for the Three Spires will continue, as will many further regeneration projects in the area, let’s just hope moving forward the focus is on the Architecture and not repeating the same mistakes.

The only loser will be London.

Distillery Tower; Rising High or Falling Flat?

An unusual yellow box is attracting some attention as it reaches up to the sky making its mark on the south east London skyline; it is in fact the construction site for the 80meter tall “old Seager Distillery” residential tower in Deptford.

SE8 and the Deptford bridge area had been earmarked for regeneration and redevelopment around 12 years ago, finally you can start to see the concrete evidence of change. The council’s intention is to turn the area into a cultural hub, an urban quarter of London that people will come to live, work and spend their money.

Recently Deptford had a brief but significant amount of global exposure, when the New York Times urged Americans to visit the Borough in an article entitled “In London, New Cross & Deptford attract the hip”. Much to the confusion of the media and local residents.

Way back in 2001 Galliard homes produced plans to redevelop a piece of land located next to the Deptford Bridge DLR station, the design was granted planning permission and praised for its design and interaction with the community by the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. After a staggering 8 years and a little demolition later it was all systems go.

Galliard have used all the key words we are so used to hearing when it comes to new residential buildings; “stunning development” “luxurious city styled apartments” etc etc... For once I was willing to accept the PR padding and hoped the tower lived up to expectations.

As any Londoner will know tall buildings in London have been on the increase since Ken Livingstone became Mayor back in 2000, the new guide lines in the London Plan have allowed areas such as Canary Wharf and the City to boom and expand upwards.
However the public’s reaction to “tall buildings” or “tower blocks” (as they are so often incorrectly referred to) can still seem pretty negative, which can seem irrational when you consider over the last ten years the London eye and the Gherkin have become much loved iconic symbols of modern London.

I Visited the construction site this afternoon to check out the progress on the distillery, the site was a hive of activity with workmen riding up the side of this concrete skeleton in bright orange lifts. On the ground floor cladding has started being attached.
Obviously no building can be judged or viewed fairly until completion, however on my first observation it doesn’t quite live up to my hopeful expectations which had been promised in the developers brief. It had a slight resemblance to the cladding currently being applied to Pioneer Point in Ilford (unfortunately that isn’t a compliment).

Deptford Bridge has potential written all over it from the empty disused carparks to the worn but beautiful townhouses. Kensington and Chelsea this will never be, and for that I am thankful.
Adding to the cultural credentials of Deptford, the tower will house a “sky gallery” offering residents vistas across the capital and towards Canary Wharf. 26 floors below a cafe, bookshop and art gallery will attempt to entice passersby into the newly landscaped public realm.

Distillery tower is due for completion in phase 2 of 2011, the question is; will this tower become a shining beacon for the future of Deptford? Or yet another lost opportunity?