Architect Amin Taha claims Islington council has accepted the existence of crucial documents containing façade details for his demolition-threatened 15 Clerkenwell Close, underpinning a delegated approval by planning officers.

But Taha says the authority, which has now issued two enforcement notices over the RIBA award-winning development, is dragging its feet over withdrawing its call for the six-storey structure to be razed. Taha said he believed the authority was now content for a planning inspector to decide the wrangle in an appeal later this year.

Islington argues that the building, which hosts the Amin Taha & Groupwork practice on its ground floor and flats on the others – one of them Taha’s home – has been built in breach of planning rules. It says the building’s “design and location fails to preserve or enhance the Clerkenwell Green Conservation Area” and harms its setting – which includes grade II* St James’ Church.

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