All the coverage from one of the year’s biggest planning sagas
Last month, Michael Gove agreed with a planning inspector that the Foster & Partners-designed Tulip should not be built.
There were concerns over its sustainability and whether a glut of viewing platforms at other towers already up and running in the City as well as those planned as for yet unbuilt schemes would leave it a white elephant.
The decision marked the end of a process which has gone on for the past few years. The pattern was predictable: City approves, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan turns it down and it’s left to a planning inspector to decided.
A few weeks before the mood music was optimistic that the Tulip would get the green light. The Tulip team, which had been speaking to four firms about building the tower, has not called it quits yet but given the constraints of the site the odds have to be against a tall tower like the one planned ever coming out of the ground from it.
Here’s how we reported the news
Why throwing the Tulip out was the right decision
Date published: 18 November
Historic England chief executive Duncan Wilson explains why the government’s ruling should be welcomed
Tulip decision is missed opportunity to deliver positive change
Date: 12 November
The hard-hit Square Mile will suffer because of Michael Gove’s decision to reject developer’s appeal, says NLA founder Peter Murray
Experts say Tulip decision could change how big projects are assessed
Date: 15 November
Ministers’ decision to reject Foster & Partners’ Tulip partly on the grounds of its “highly unsustainable” use of concrete may have set a “game-changing” precedent, according to architects, planners and lawyers. Other major projects are now likely to be given a much harder ride at planning with their sustainability credentials set to come under significant scrutiny.
Tulip team mulling rethink in bid to save £500m project
Date: 12 November
The project team behind the Tulip is expected to decide in the next few weeks whether to redraw it or give up on it entirely after it was turned down for planning by the government. Several sources have told Building the team, which includes developer Bury Street Properties, run by Brazilian billionaire banker Joseph Safra, and architect Foster & Partners, will be speaking to government in the coming days about how the scheme can be made to work.
Industry reacts as £500m Tulip on the brink after government pulls plug on City tower
Date: 11 November
Lawyers for the Tulip were locked in talks this afternoon about what to do next after the 305m-tall tourist attraction in the City of London was thrown out by the government. Project insiders told Building they were taken aback by the news with one saying: “A few weeks ago I thought it was 80:20 in favour of going through. I’m gobsmacked. I wonder if COP26 had something to do with it.”
Tulip appeal dismissed over design and carbon concerns
Date: 11 November
Foster & Partners’ Tulip was today rejected by the new communities secretary Michael Gove who said it contained “too many compromises to amount to world-class architecture”. He also questioned the “highly unsustainable concept of using vast quantities of reinforced concrete”.
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