Tall & Urban News

Housing secretary Michael Gove has issued an Article 31 notice halting work on Make’s redevelopment of the ITV Studios site on London’s  South Bank. Lambeth Council approved plans to demolish the studios and replace them with a 90,000-square-meter office tower at the end of March 2022. The new scheme would have a 14 and a 25-story element linked by a six-story podium.

However, the development faces an uncertain future after Gove’s intervention, which prevents demolition from starting on-site while he considers whether to call in the application and rule on it himself. It is the second Article 31 notice issued by Gove in the last few weeks. The housing secretary also stopped work on Pilbrow & Partners’ Marks & Spencer building on Oxford Street in April, 2022. Gove recently said he would use planning powers to rule on controversial planning applications that may not meet design standards.

Make’s tower scheme was described as ‘clearly controversial and extremely unpopular’ in Lambeth Council’s planning report, with objectors saying the new building would be excessively large and bulky. Neighbors also said the building would block out their sunlight and daylight, while heritage campaigners said the building would overwhelm Denys Lasdun’s nearby Grade II-listed IBM building and Grade I-listed National Theatre.

However, Lambeth planners said the building would have a ‘calm and understated character on the river’, while a spokesperson for the project, which is being developed by Mitsubishi and CO—RE, said the project would bring new jobs and investment. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities told the AJ that Gove had issued the Article 31 direction pausing the application while ministers consider whether it should be called in. 

For more on this story, go to Architects' Journal.