Council finally approves £150m Shoreditch office plan at fourth committee hearing

Plans for a £150m office redevelopment in Shoreditch have finally been approved after four successive committee hearings and two redesigns.

Islington council voted to back its planning officers’ recommendation to approve the Castle House and Fitzroy House scheme yesterday evening.

The plans, drawn up by Morris & Co, have been stuck in planning limbo for the past nine months, having already been deferred three times due to concerns over its impact on views and daylight for nearby residents.

Designed for developer Capreon, they would see the site’s two 1960s and 1970s buildings demolished and replaced with a mixed-use block containing 28,000 sq m of offices and a smaller amount of space for retail, a gym and a cafe.

Following its third deferral in January, Capreon ordered Morris & Co to reduce the scheme’s fifth floor shoulder on Clere Street by 1.2 metres and its sixth floor on the same side by 2.5m, with the changes then being sent out for another 14-day consultation.

Islington council’s planning officers said the loss of daylight for nearby properties was “regrettable” but said the latest design changes had addressed the issues which had caused it to be deferred.

The project team includes QS Exigere, project manager Blackburn and Co, engineering and sustainability consultant Hoare Lea, structural engineer Heyne Tillett Steel, facade engineer Eckersley O’Callaghan, landscape architect LDA Design and planning consultant DP9.

Submitted in summer last year, the plans were first deferred in July due to the same daylight issues and questions over its affordable workspace and whole life carbon assessment.

It was then deferred again in October following further objections from locals, after which it was revised to set back its top storeys and sent out to consultation before it was deferred again in January.