{"id":810400,"date":"2024-12-06T10:12:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T16:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/06\/rayner-approves-ms-flagship-store-demolition\/"},"modified":"2024-12-06T10:12:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T16:12:01","slug":"rayner-approves-ms-flagship-store-demolition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/06\/rayner-approves-ms-flagship-store-demolition\/","title":{"rendered":"Rayner approves M&S flagship store demolition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Communities secretary Angela Rayner has approved the controversial demolition of Marks & Spencer\u2019s 1920s-built store on London\u2019s Oxford Street.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday (5 December), she <\/span>ruled<\/span><\/a> that the retailer could press ahead with its plan to replace the building with a 10-storey office scheme by Pilbrow & Partners, reported <\/span>Construction News<\/span><\/i>\u2019 sister title<\/span> Architects<\/span><\/i>\u2019<\/span> Journal<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rayner\u2019s Tory predecessor, Michael Gove, blocked M&S\u2019s plan to demolish the store in July 2023, but his decision was <\/span>quashed by a High Court judge<\/span><\/a> in March 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ruling meant the case had to be returned to the secretary of state to be redetermined. With the change of government this summer, the final decision fell to Rayner.<\/span><\/p>\n

M&S\u2019s proposal for the shop near Marble Arch would see three buildings on the prominent corner site next to Selfridges demolished and replaced with a 10-storey store and office block.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of the upfront carbon cost of new construction, such a move would release almost 40,000 tonnes of embodied carbon.<\/span><\/p>\n

The carbon impact of the proposal was highlighted by Gove in his reasons for refusal last year, along with heritage and design concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n

The High Court\u2019s decision to overturn this on 1 March followed an M&S appeal on procedural grounds, which involved <\/span>the retailer having to prove to the High Court that Gove had made an error in his decision-making<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In her judgment, Mrs Justice Lieven ruled that M&S had succeeded in five out of six grounds for appeal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having reappraised the plans and the planning inspector\u2019s report, Rayner has now approved the application. In terms of the loss of buildings and impact on the surrounding historic environment, she claimed the \u201cbenefits of the proposal outweigh the harm to the significance of the designated heritage assets\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

She acknowledged that the scheme\u2019s embodied carbon and the fact that the required demolition would, in part, fail to \u201csupport the transition to a low carbon future\u201d weighed against the proposal, as per paragraph 157 (formerly paragraph 152) of the National Planning Policy Framework.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Rayner argued that those issues had to be set against the \u201cadvantages of concentrating development in such a highly accessible location\u201d, the employment and regeneration benefits, and the \u201cpotential harm to the vitality and viability\u201d of London\u2019s West End that could follow a refusal of permission.<\/span><\/p>\n

Responding to Rayner\u2019s decision, M&S chief executive Stuart Machin said: \u201cI am delighted that, after three unnecessary years of delays, obfuscation and political posturing at its worst under the previous government, our plans for Marble Arch \u2013 the only retail-led regeneration proposal on Oxford Street \u2013 have finally been approved.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can now get on with the job of helping to rejuvenate the UK\u2019s premier shopping street through a flagship M&S store and office space, which will support 2,000 jobs and act as a global standard-bearer for sustainability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe share the government\u2019s ambition to breathe life back into our cities and towns, and are pleased to see they are serious about getting Britain building and growing. We will now move as fast as we can.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Pilbrow & Partners founder Fred Pilbrow described the decision as \u201clong overdue\u201d and echoed Machin\u2019s words. telling <\/span>AJ<\/span><\/i>: \u201cWe can now get on with the job of helping to rejuvenate the UK\u2019s premier shopping street through a flagship M&S store and office space, which will support 2,000 jobs and act as a global standard-bearer for sustainability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Henrietta Billings, director SAVE Britain\u2019s Heritage, described the decision as a \u201cmissed opportunity\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThe government has chosen the easy option \u2013 business as usual – when it had a real chance to show leadership and ambition on this urgent issue. Our old, wasteful knock-it-down-and-start-again model is broken. There is a real appetite in the construction sector for change. They\u2019re crying out for clarity from government.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She added: \u201cReusing buildings is great for the planet, great for communities \u2013 and it\u2019s also great for growth. Just look at the cultural powerhouse that is Tate Modern, or converted department stores across the country, or the great Pennine textile mills that are once again a driving force in their local economies as commercial space or homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is wilfully myopic not to see that the elegant M&S building could play a similar role in the story of Oxford Street, whose fortunes are already on the up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Greg Pitcher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Communities secretary Angela Rayner has approved the controversial demolition of Marks & Spencer\u2019s 1920s-built store on London\u2019s Oxford Street. Yesterday (5 December), she ruled that the retailer could press ahead with its plan to replace the building with a 10-storey office scheme by Pilbrow & Partners, reported Construction News \u2019 sister title Architects \u2019 Journal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":810401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23704,135351],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-810400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-approves","8":"category-rayner"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}