43-46 Blackfriars Road - 75-metre hotel and office building

I work and live in the area all I can say is bring it on. We live in a city and going on the economic tubulance we are currently experiencing we should be fighting for change and the money it wil bring. Ask yourselves why did you move here in the first place? If you were born here celebrate the growth and change I do. Nothing stands still. Embrace the change, be proud of your community & promote your community for the benefit of all!

I'm really not clear what money and benefits it brings, what money did Palestra bring?

Jobs to the area, trade for local businesses, business rates for Southwark Council that directly or indirectly benefit us all? I find that a rather extraordinary question to ask!

As a previous poster has pointed out, Southwark tube station has been built, did you seriously not expect that it would be a catalyst for development in the area? Seemingly however even the construction of a new tube station is cause for complaint due to some short term disruption rather than an a cause for celebrating the public transport connectivity improvements for local residents. I despair of some peoples negativity!

I question whether London would be the world city that it is now if all people had the negative anti development stance that some posters have. It's a world city, we're fortunate enough to live walking distance from some incredible sites that people travel all around the world to, you have to accept that change is going to happen.

It amuses me to think of Sir Christopher Wren going through the process of getting planning permission for St Pauls Cathedral now, local nimbys complaining that it is totally out of scale and will increase horse and cart congestion in the area, Evening Standard journalists complaining that architecturally it is far too modern and totally out of keeping with the area and English Heritage being up in arms about its height impacting on the protected sightlines from the Tower of London. Probably also an old relative of Micky's commenting that all modern architecture is crap anyway, wattle and daub was so much better. ;-)

Honestly smoggy, I do agree to a great extent. I'm not opposed to development at all, but within some sort of proportion. Unfortunately the buildings of today go whizzing up in a whiffy...you can chuck up a batch of 70 storey buildings in a couple of years, unlike the buildings of yesteryear which took years and years, provided jobs for thousands of craftsmen, and generally could only go to a certain height. I'd be relieved if there were more renovation of lovely old buildings. Clusters of high rises dont bother me, but it's the slamming of these looming towers in the middle of places where the architectural heritage is gradually being eroded as far as to disappear. As always, moderaton is the key.

jackie rokotnitz wrote:

I'd be relieved if there were more renovation of lovely old buildings. Clusters of high rises dont bother me, but it's the slamming of these looming towers in the middle of places where the architectural heritage is gradually being eroded as far as to disappear. As always, moderaton is the key.

Hi Jackie, I completely agree with you. There are some beautiful semi derelict buildings around SE1 that would be absolutely wonderful to see brought into use, the Georgian townhouses and chapel on St Georges Circus spring to mind in this area and I'm completely opposed to 'development' that involves destruction of architecturally significant historic old buildings.

The issue is though that renovation of old buildings is not going to satisfy demand for new office space and residential development, also older buildings are often not suitable for new office due to very modern requirements such as extra floor height for cable ducting as well as business requirements such as large floor plates for trading floors and the like.

I personally like the juxtaposition of modern glass towers and historic old buildings, to me it is one of the things that makes cities like London and New York so exciting as opposed to beautiful but rather museum like cities such as Edinburgh and to a certain extent Paris. As you rightly say, moderation is the key.

Development has always been and always will be a massive part of London, as I see it the main thing is to ensure that developments are sympathetic to the surroundings and historic buildings are not being lost rather than the total opposition to any change that a number of posters on this forum seem to have.

I am also a bit dubious whether I would like Blackfriars Road turning into a wind tunnel of Manhattan-like proportions... I am all for redevelopment and the area has improved immensly in the almost ten years I have been living here. And like people have said it is a bit stressful to live constantly in the middle of several building sites.

But not much of the "regeneration" has helped us residents, but it all seems to be local specialist shops being replaced by more sandwich shops and bars for people who pass through here. But not a proper ordinary grocery store anywhere near yet. But at least it is nice and quiet here at the weekends when the offices are closed.

Can somebody enlighten me, which plot this development is about, can't place 43-46 just now... will it replace the old Benefits office, or is the parking lot next to the Post Office?

It's the car park next to the Post Office (and the brick former Waterman building at the corner of Meymott Street, and the former snack bar to the rear).

Ok, thanks James! I personally would have saved that brick building, as it does not seem to be in bad shape at all. It is a shame that there will soon be nothing pre-80's on that part of Blackfriars road left.

smoggy wrote:

Jobs to the area, trade for local businesses, business rates for Southwark Council that directly or indirectly benefit us all? I find that a rather extraordinary question to ask!

Palestra houses the LDA, it's unlikely any locals have got jobs there, the same is true of most of the businesses that will move here, local people just don't have the skills they need. We now have local businesses that serve a particular group of people, and that isn't residents; and Southwark Council is having a budget crisis, all the development to date doesn't seem to have helped, I can't see a few more high rises making that big a difference.

It's no good accusing those locals who oppose development of being nimby's or stuck in the past. If we don't look out for our communitites, no one else will, and we'll end up with monstrous ugly buildings, the horrendous noise of development, which appears to be never ending, and very little to show for it, which is what's happened up until now.

I'm amused that you call me negative, I'm actually a very positive person, but the constant noise and disturbance of living in this area really gets me down. Unfortunately, unlike for nelson, it's noisy in our block all the time, even at weekends, until after midnight with the bars behind us, and from the early hours of the morning with the trains, and homeless people shouting, and traffic beeping, and the inevitable fight outside costcutter....

As an aside, it's worth noting that although councils collect business rates, they don't keep the cash which is passed straight to the Treasury.

The local authority gets some money back from the central coffers as part of its overall funding settlement.

I have heard council leaders banging on about this on several occasions - it is a misconception that councils rake in huge business rate proceeds from big offices. Though, of course, an authority may consider such developments desirable for a host of other reasons.