Architect already has planning for previous version of City scheme
Wilkinson Eyre’s revised proposals for an office scheme above Moorgate Tube station are being recommended for approval by City of London planners.
The redesign was submitted last year after developer Landsec pre-let the majority of the scheme, called 21 Moorfields, to Deutsche Bank on the proviso that more space be created to accommodate its requirements for large trading floors.
The bank, which has 7,000 staff, has pre-let 469,000sq ft of space at the 1.9 acre development to house its new London headquarters on a 25-year lease.
The previously consented plans include two buildings containing 522,000sq ft of office space, plus shops set around a public square.
The new proposals still include two buildings, but the western building has been reduced from eight to three storeys in height, while the eastern building ranges from eight to 16 storeys.
Other changes include the removal of public access through the scheme, cutting the number of shops to one and reducing the size of the public square to create an extra 42,000sq ft of lettable space.
The residents’ committee at developer Gerald Ronson’s 36-storey Heron tower on Moor Lane, near the back of the scheme, raised concerns over the lack of street level pedestrian routes through the site from Moorfields to the Barbican, arguing the lack of active frontages at street level on Moor Lane did not meet the City’s Culture Mile aspirations.
But in the report to the City of London’s planning committee planners said there would be a narrow pedestrian route in addition to existing pedestrian routes. They said the reduced retail and active frontages had been welcomed by residents on the nearby Barbican estate.
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