More Notes on BMH

Members of the Breton and Ben Jonson house group committees attended a meeting with the architects for the Taylor Wimpey Bernard Morgan House.  Here are some notes from the meeting:
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The meeting on Wednesday [9th March] took place at BMH, standing round the snooker table, with house group and BA members putting forward the residents' viewpoints and James Garland, Ben Edwards and Louis Kent representing the developers. Beyond some plans, which we could not keep, showing the revised footprint of the newbuild, ie in line with the existing building on Golden Lane, we were shown nothing and it was clear that we were there principally in order for the developers to gather as full a picture of our concerns as possible.

We made it clear throughout that our particular concern was about the way the mass and height of the new building would affect views from and overshadowing to Breton House, Golden Lane School Campus and Fortune Park to the East of it and Golden Lane Estate to the North.  We were told that the revised plans would be stepped in 3 stages, from 10 storeys (plus the lower ground) down to just above the height of the current building, to minimize this. The amendments made so far were in response to the initial consultation.  However, this proposal had not been finalised.  The amendments made so far were in response to the initial consultation.  We made a request for the total square and cubic footage, but they were not able to give us this information at that point, although they took a note of our request.

Apparently, although UBS and the Cobalt building will both be affected by loss of light, and have been informed about the development, there has been no response from either of these interested parties. 

We drew the developers' attention to
a) the guidelines relating to the Grade 2* Listing of Barbican gardens, which relate to views from as well as, views of them
b) the listing guidelines for the Golden Lane Estate which aim to protect views from the estate
c) the 1962 Finsbury directives applied to the building of Bernard Morgan House in its relation to the Golden Lane Estate

There was also the Publica Barbican Area Plan, which is official policy, to be considered. Is this development in keeping?

We were assured that there would be another public consultation in April/May with full plans and a 3D model before any plans were submitted to the Planning Committee.  We said we understood that Bob Chipperfield in the Planning Department was very interested in receiving any relevant information before recommendations are made.  The developers' aim is to adjust their plans so that they stand the best chance of being approved by the Planning officers.  The City of London will also consult with the public.

We expressed concern about ecological aspects such as the preservation of mature trees (apparently an attempt was made earlier in the week to cut down the Silver Birch until a resident managed to get it stopped) and bat corridors.  We were told an ecological survey would be part of the submission.

Although the developers were open to including affordable housing on the site, CoL were not interested and planned to use any associated funding on alternative sites.  The property would be marketed in the UK and overseas, with a view to attracting families as residents, so we were told.