Green light for Derwent Lazari’s mixed-use scheme in London
Westminster council has approved a project by Derwent Lazari and The Portman Estate to create an eight-storey, 28,000 sq m mixed-use development in central London. The scheme was controversial because it involves the demolition of five existing buildings, an entire city block, in and around Baker Street.
The project was first submitted to Westminster Council in 2020 and has been modified three times to be in line with the authorities’ recommendations. The height and size of the scheme was scaled down following feedback from the council and local residents’ associations.
Derwent Lazari said that the scheme at 38-70 Baker Street, designed by architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, will be a “modern, highly naturally ventilated, sustainable and energy-efficient building which will significantly reduce carbon emission in operation” and will deliver a “mix of uses on site, including high quality flexible office accommodation, flexible retail spaces and private residential homes.”
The major new development will have office and retail space as well as 17 flats. Flats will consist of seven one-bedroom apartments and 10 two to three-bedroom flats between the first and sixth floors of Dorset Street. Derwent Lazari satisfied affordable accommodation requirements by buying up slots at a separate site in Victoria, which is expected to be completed before this project.
Derwent Lazari has undertaken to create a communal space dedicated to the Special Operations Exectuive, the spy headquarters used by Britain during WWII, and will contribute £1.25 million to employment training and carbon off-set funds. It will also create a green rooftop space and install solar panels on a nearby school.
Overruling protests by local associations which argued against the demolition of existing buildings, Westminster council admitted Baker Street would be “greatly changed” by the scheme but said that: “The harm to the amenity of the occupants of nearby residential properties needs to be weighed against the public benefits of a development proposal that is generating significant commercial growth through optimising the development potential of the site and generating a number of public benefits. The localised loss of amenity is not considered to be significant enough to outweigh the wider benefits of the scheme.”
