Planning inspector refuses ‘monolithic slab’ Stratford tower at appeal

Howells’ proposals for a 34-storey student accommodation tower in Stratford have been refused at appeal after the planning inspector criticised the building’s height and design.

The 700-bed scheme for Dominus Real Estate and Queen Mary University of London was rejected by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) in April last year due to its “excessive” height and “substandard” design.

The developers appealed the decision and a planning inspectorate inquiry was held on 21 January this year.

Planning inspector David Nicholson has now upheld the LLDC’s refusal, arguing in a decision published last week that the 302-312 High Street scheme breached local policy for tall buildings and that its terracotta-coloured cladding clashed with the mostly muted greys of surrounding buildings.

While the local plan has sought to cluster the area’s tallest buildings around Stratford station with building heights stepping down around its periphery, Nicholson said Howells’ tower would break this pattern in “an unwelcome jolt in the townscape”.

“The proposals would fail to follow this hierarchy, but interpose one of the tallest towers outside the boundary, upsetting the existing and emerging character on both sides,” he said. 

“The effect would be to spread, and dilute, the influence of the Metropolitan Centre into that of the High Street.”

Although the tower would neighbour a 32-storey student accommodation development, Eleanor Rosa House, which was designed by Hodder & Partners and completed in 2019, the inspector said the apparent scale of this building had been softened by its broken up massing.

In contrast, 302-312 High Street was criticised for appearing to rise continuously from the pavement, appearing like a “monolithic slab”, although Nicholson conceded new requirements for two staircases in buildings above 18 metres made it more difficult to reduce massing at higher levels.

The inspector also criticised the colour of the building’s cladding as too bold for its location, which he described as not prominent enough to justify a design which “establishes a new sense of place”.

“While I find the design approach acceptable in principle, I do not find that it justifies the prominence that would come from the proposed combination of colour, form and particularly height, in this location,” Nicholson said.

The scheme would have required the demolition of a row of low-rise buildings on the site and would have included a replacement pub.

The project team includes planning consultant Knight Frank, landscape designer JCLA, townscape consultant The Townscape Consultancy, civil and structural engineer Meinhardt and environmental consultant Knight Frank.

A spokesperson for Dominus said: “Our proposals would have transformed an underused brownfield site with excellent transport links and delivered 700 professionally managed student rooms – 35% of which would have been affordable – with two rooms provided rent free to local care leavers.

“London has a chronic undersupply of student beds and the site, located close to several universities, would have helped to address the supply-demand imbalance. Purpose-built student housing provides a home for students to live, freeing up already built family homes that have been converted to houses in multiple occupation. The plans would have been equivalent to delivering 280 new homes.

The developer said it would review the inspectorate’s decision and “engage locally to ensure the site can be revitalised to deliver a wide range of community benefits”.

Howells has been contacted for comment.