Patrik Schumacher has weighed into the long-running saga of Bishopsgate Goodsyard in Shoreditch during a passionate attack on local democracy.

Zaha Hadid’s successor as head of ZHA criticised local planners for repeatedly turning down the mammoth scheme which has been masterplanned by FaulknerBrowns for Hammerson and Ballymore.

He said: “Bishopsgate Goodsyard is a fantastic site in the centre of London. It’s had multiple schemes proposed. I’ve looked at the refusal arguments and it doesn’t stand up to public scrutiny. It’s wilful. It’s atrocious. It’s horrible. And it needs to be challenged.”

The project, which also features designs by Eric Parry, Buckley Gray Yeoman, Chris Dyson and Spacehub, was called in in 2015 when Boris Johnson was mayor, at the developers’ request. The GLA and the councils whose land it straddles were all opposed to the vast project on the grounds of its scale. The tallest elements have since been redrawn and the project is due to go back in for planning any day.

Schumacher was speaking at a panel debate last week called The Problem with Affordable Housing, one of the Negroni Talks series run at Hackney bar Ombra by Fourth Space architects.

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