A drawing of Developers’ proposals for Centre Point

Published: 11 July, 2013
by DAN CARRIER

HIGH-END property developers Almacantar are celebrating after their controversial plans to turn the iconic Grade II-listed Centre Point tower into private housing were waved through by Camden Council’s planning committee.

Opponents of the scheme included conservationists The 20th Century Society and civic group the Bloomsbury conservation area advisory committee (CAAC). More than 2,000 objections came from regulars at famed rock ’n’ roll pub The Intrepid Fox, which will now be demolished.

The vicar of the grade-I listed St Giles church, Bill Jacob, also made a passionate speech at last Thursday’s meeting, warning that the scheme would directly affect his church. He questioned the size of the rooms in the social housing block when the rest of the project offered top-of-the-range flats.

He said: “The Intrepid Fox site is very small and unsuitable for an 11-storey block.

“It will have an unacceptable impact on a Grade I-listed church. They are trying to squeeze social housing on to an unsuitable site.”

He added there was a stark difference between the two buildings being proposed.

“The residences for affordable housing will not be nice, while the super rich will have amazing views.”

The meeting heard that the new social housing was a scant payoff for taking over such an iconic building and closing the top three floors to public access.

The loss of the top three floors to the public – the developer claimed that to keep them that way would eat so far into their profits to render the scheme non-viable – was criticised by Pierre Condou, the owner of the Paramount Club, who has run the venue for more than five years.

He told the meeting he had a 30-year lease, employed around 110 ­people and that more than 200,000 people went up the tower to enjoy the views each year.

Labour councillor Sue Vincent, who represents the Bloomsbury ward and sits on the planning committee, said the claim that keeping the top floors open would be a security risk was incorrect.

She added: “There are eight lift shafts in the building. It is just not true to say it isn’t possible to have public access to the top floors and private flats below.”

The Bloomsbury CAAC chairman Tony Tugnutt added: “We are concerned about the impact of the social housing block being squeezed on to a site so close to St Giles church.

“Furthermore, we deplore the loss of public access to the top floors. Camden and Westminster will never grant permission for a building of this height and scale again. Its viewing areas will be lost forever.”

Almacantar chief executive Mike Hussey told the committee: “This is an urgent issue. It is the focal point for people coming into central London and it will be the hub of a revitalised eastern end of Oxford Street.

"It is not acceptable at the moment. There is a lot of work to do and we have some momentum behind it.”

He said they had looked at various ways to keep the top floors open but the figures did not stack up financially.

Mr Hussey said: “We have thought a lot about how to squeeze a quart into a pint pot.”

He added that their scheme had the backing of English Heritage and the Design Council.

Work will start in 2014 and expected to take two years to complete.

Neglect… but now tower’s star is rising

IT is hardly surprising property developers Almacantar have taken the plunge and bought Centre Point for an undisclosed figure, rumoured to be more than £100m. It fits in with their stated aim of finding landmark buildings in central London and re-fitting them for wealthy customers.

They own 75 per cent of Centre Point, with Frogmore, a private equity company, owning 25 per cent.

Since it was finished in 1966, the block has been cursed with bad luck. It lay empty for many years, with Camden Council planning a compulsory purchase order after it was used by squatters in the 1970s.

But as well as offering perhaps the best views anywhere in London, it is in the centre of an area of the borough that is undergoing huge changes.

The section of New Oxford Street, St Giles and Charing Cross Road has been sorely neglected. It was once known as The Rookeries and the scene of Hogarthian poverty that prompted architect Nicholas Hawksmoor to build the nearby St George’s church, so the Lord’s presence could help.

Now it is booming. Opposite, architect Renzo Piano has built the St Giles development – it houses Universal Pictures UK headquarters – and restaurants.

Beneath Centre Point, the new Crossrail station is heading towards completion, while Tottenham Court Road tube station is also undergoing a massive expansion programme.

Finally, at the foot of the building, a new piazza is planned.