Pilbrow gets green light to demolish Oxford Street M&S

Pilbrow & Partners’ plans to demolish the flagship branch of Marks & Spencer on Oxford Street and replace it with a huge office-led scheme have won the backing of Westminster council.

经过昨晚两小时的会议，规划委员会成员以五票对一票通过了建筑师对玛莎百货大理石拱门分部的提案。

The move paves the way for the demolition of M&S’s main Orchard House building, which dates back to the 1930s, and two other connected structures, to make way for a new 10-storey mixed-use building featuring retail, office and restaurant space. An arcade would link Oxford Street to Granville Place at the north of the building.

However the plans could be impacted by a listing bid for Orchard House that is currently awaiting decision from ministers at the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport. Westminster’s approval also requires the backing of mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Government heritage advisor Historic England compiled the listing application. It has also voiced concerns about the Pilbrow scheme’s impact on the neighbouring Selfridges department store, which is grade II* listed.

Six-storey Orchard House was designed by Trehearne & Norman and speculatively built, with M&S taking space in the basement and part of the ground floor. The retail giant did not take over the whole building and extend its operations to the north of the site until 1967.

Pilbrow’s new building would have a gross internal area of 60,777sq m – almost double the 35,591sq m of floorspace provided by the structures it would replace. However the amount of retail space at the site would more than halve from 13,653sq m, with office space – at 45,621sq m – becoming the dominant use.

Last night’s meeting heard M&S was committed to retaining retail space on the ground, first and lower ground floors of the new building.

Backing the proposals, planning committee chair Robert Rigby said the panel preferred buildings to be reused rather than demolished.

But he added: “In everything there have to be exceptions and this particular application meets that exception.”

He said Marks & Spencer’s proposals for 90% of the materials on the current site to be reused were a “particularly positive feature” of the scheme and to be commended.

规划官员在昨晚会议上的报告中表示，尽管这些提议可能会导致现场零售空间的“大幅减少”，但牛津街正面临着来自竞争对手零售中心(如Westfield)和网上购物等的一系列挑战。

官员们表示，这些提议将为该地点的用途带来灵活性，创造多达2000个工作岗位，并“有望确保玛莎百货在该地点的长期未来”。

Earlier this month Westminster backed PDP London-designed proposals for theredevelopment of the House of Fraser department storenear Oxford Circus, which will see the existing building refurbished and extended to provide six floors of offices above a revamped retail offer.

Pilbrow & Partners has been approached for comment.