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261 City Road (Lexicon) and 259 City Road (Canaletto) | Islington | 115m, 90m | 35, 28 fl

352K views 811 replies 143 participants last post by  archoptical 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
http://www.skyscrapernews.com/buildings.php?id=299



This project was, as we know, called in early December 2006. According to the folks at Islington council, the judicial review is a 3-month process and will be over on 15 March (next week). They have had no requests yet, which suggests that the project will proceed, but I thought I check with the SSC folks, see if anyone has any inside information?
 
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#2 ·
Going through some old files and I found this rendering.

 
#3 ·
The 7-storey building in front of the taller of the 2 towers (on the right) is substantially built. Problem is, its immediate neighbour is an abandoned electricity board building with all the aesthetic appeal of a Prescott/Widdecombe love-child. I wonder what this will do to the prices of the flats in the new building.
The towers are the ones which remain in doubt, partly due to the efforts of some local NIMBYs who have described the derelict area as "a tranquil oasis" and have encouraged Ruth Kelly to get involved.
However, I think the review is now over - if I learn the outcome, I'll post it.
 
#6 ·
Hopefully commonsense will prevail on this . As has been mentioned there's a few towers going to go up around here in the next few years. It would be disastrous if the local NIMBY'S got these Old St towers stopped, they would then go on to attack the other towers proposed for the rest of the area with their battle cry ' It will be like a mini-manhatten & this must be stopped'.
 
#7 ·
City Road Basin (115m and 90m)

During a ride on the #43 down City Road at the w/e I saw activity at these 2 sites:

151 City Road is that Alsop design (http://www.skyscrapernews.com/buildings.php?id=5189) and I think that the big hoardings, scaffolding and sheeting, and demolition notices that I saw surrounding a 2-storey plot next the the car park were on this site.

City Road Basin project (http://www.skyscrapernews.com/buildings.php?id=299) which seems to have been dormant for several months now during final approval stages now has a couple of JCBs digging up the concreted area adjacent to City Road itself, right at the end of basin between the canal and the road. OK, nothing major, but they were not there last month. They are actually in the area that the ODPM had provided funding to develop last year, the public access area that opens up the basin from City Road, between the two proposed towers.

Anyone else know about progress on these 2? Given the huge disappointment of 100 City Road I really do hope these are signals of something significant.
 
#9 ·
err there has been some vague activity around the site for a while now, boarded up, but with no developer information. Ive seen work around the site but it looks like utility work perhaps they have to sort out some infrastructure work before they can progress? :shrugs:
 
#10 ·
I see the galcial progress on this one every day: some hoardings with the name of a demolition firm appeared a couple months ago. Then some works have gone on at the entrance to City Road that would lie between the towers - looks like the one story utilities buildings there have become some kind of platforrm at street level. The Access storage bulding, which would be the site of the shorter tower, has been vacated and is boarded up. All in all very disappointing progress and it looks like the pressure groups have won the day.
 
#13 ·
So under construction then? :)
 
#17 ·
:) Not quite...... although it is an odd place to put access to the basin. The steps down to the water will be between two empty buildings: the Access storage building, boarded up and empty on one side, and a grim brick office building on the left, vacated by a utility company years ago. Hardly an idyllic paradise to enjoy the waterfront, so I am (probably naively) taking this as a postiive sign. I think the original purpose when Precott agreed a couple years back to provide £2m from the ODPM budget to fund this part of the works was to kick-start the bigger development, so maybe he wasn't such a fat idiot after all...
 
#18 ·
Actually I thought Prescott was great, especially when he punched the egghead...thanks for the info :)
 
#21 ·
I saw last week that demolition of the building that occupies the space of the shorter of the two toers seems to be underway (part of the roof is off and some internal materials are being stripped out) . The council seem unaware of any imminent construction but hopfully this is an encouraging development.
 
#22 ·
Indeed ..thanks
 
#23 ·
Got a message direct from the developer Derwent to day that they are waiting for the Secretary of State to make a recomendation following the rejection of planning application by LBI. Expected at the end of the year. Demolition is moving ahead and the Access Storage facility is no more, apart from two walls pretty much. Hope everyone got their boxes out in time.

If you want to see an image of the new Angel Building go here:
http://www.derwentlondon.com/00,property,422,80,00.htm
looks OK actually and a much better public space than before.
 
#26 ·
Islington are worse than Westminster! Seriously after the Old Street fiasco and utterly corrupt politics. And this is Labour/Lib dems! There is like no where to turn! The Islington Development Plan basically says we can not have any new tall buildings because our exisiting ones (even though we refurbish them so they are not going anywhere soon) were rubbish. Wow what an intelligent peice of urban design! Perhaps i will take them to the European Court for forcing me to live in the living room of an ex council house ;)
 
#25 ·
This will be for the shorter of the 2 towers. The taller of the 2 (and the one which I think was designed by ian Simpson?) would stand where the brick building is on the left of Gazkinz's picture.
Thanks for the photo - the site is very active, and the middle part (public access to the basin from City Road) is nearing completion. Hopefully more scaffolding appearing soon.
 
#27 ·
Time to downsize towers?

Push for ‘more gentle’ canalside development to match economic climate

LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson’s spokesman on the waterways this week added his voice to a call for the ditching of plans for two Centre Point-style tower blocks overlooking Regent’s Canal at the Angel.

Murad Qureshi, chairman of London Waterways Commission, called for a “gentler” development, after it was revealed in the Tribune that the two blocks – of 38 and 28 storeys – could fall victim to the credit crunch.

British Waterways (BW), part of a consortium with Islington Council, had planned to begin work on the development at City Road Basin late last year or early this year. BW now admits there are “delays” and “difficult” conditions, but insists the tower blocks scheme will go ahead.

Mr Qureshi, a London Assembly member, said that one of the reasons developers had been pressing for waterside schemes like City Road Basin was that their land values were about 15 to 20 per cent higher than other sites.

“It’s quite clear the credit crunch is having an impact on all these waterside developments in London,” he said.

”But I think that in these economic times we’re going to have to be more gentle with our ideas for riverside developments. By that I mean they can’t be as huge as we would have imagined.”

Harley Sherlock, vice-president of the Islington Society, and a former chairman of the Royal Institute of British Architects (London region), said that even before the credit crunch he did not think the scheme was viable.
He added: “Who wants tall offices so far out of the City? And it is not really very good as a residential site.”

He would like to see the landscape restored to its previous industrial glory with three-storey, warehouse-style buildings in keeping with the environment.

Mr Sherlock, who served on the London Canals Consultative Committee in 1998, believed that “a high density but low-rise development would make more sense”.

Stuart Mills, director of property at British Waterways, said: “Inevitably, there may be some delays to the development due to the credit crunch and the difficult conditions that currently exist in the property market.

“We’re experiencing the same economic difficulties as every other development consortium. However, we remain committed to this projec
 
#28 ·
"Mr Qureshi, a London Assembly member, said that one of the reasons developers had been pressing for waterside schemes like City Road Basin was that their land values were about 15 to 20 per cent higher than other sites.
“It’s quite clear the credit crunch is having an impact on all these waterside developments in London,” he said.
”But I think that in these economic times we’re going to have to be more gentle with our ideas for riverside developments"

Yeah why bother lets fill up all available space with cute little gentle bungalows. Boris really has a progressive planning team. He's spot on as well, they are building houses likes theres no tomorrow elsewhere in london except along the riverside aren't they. Well apart from those rather large developments in Battersea.

“Who wants tall offices so far out of the City? And it is not really very good as a residential site.”
You would have thought a former chairman of RIBA would know the difference from an office building & residential one.
 
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