Planning
‘A clear framework for developers in one of London’s most spatially constrained boroughs’: Key policy headlines from the draft Westminster City Plan
Savills summarises the main takeaways from the borough’s planning and development blueprint for the next two decades, which has just been found sound by the planning inspectorate.
Developer withdraws Kensington Forum plans
Queensgate and Rockwell have withdrawn plans for the £1bn mixed-use development of the Kensington Forum Hotel site in West London.
Inspectorate backs Westminster’s planning blueprint
Policy of limiting the size of new homes to a maximum GIA of 200 sqm deemed 'justified and consistent with national policy'.
Leaseholders & developer team up to secure two-storey permitted development rooftop extension in Camden
Exclusive: A JV between 36 leaseholders and property developer Echlin has secured one of London's first permitted development permissions for a two-storey rooftop extension - creating seven new apartments…
Planners green light Edinburgh’s six-acre New Town Quarter
The former Royal Bank of Scotland HQ in central Edinburgh is to be transformed into "one of the one of the best places to live and work in one of the world’s finest cities."
The new London Plan is now in force
The capital's new "Spatial Development Strategy" - better known as the The London Plan 2021 - has finally come into force, after protracted exchanges between City Hall and Whitehall.
National Trust lambasts PDR planning reforms, warning of ‘stagnant and characterless’ towns & villages
Europe's biggest conservation charity "believes that the scale and pace of planning reform in England is increasingly becoming a cause for real concern."
Westminster defers Cundy Street decision
Westminster Council has deferred making a decision on Grosvenor's controversial redevelopment of the "Cundy Street Quarter" in Belgravia.
Keeping Up Appearances: An architect’s guide to façade retention projects
With two significant retained-façade projects currently under construction in London, MSMR's James Bell explains the history of façadism and practical considerations for developers of today’s methods...
Green light for Regal’s Hackney Road mixed-use scheme
Regal London has secured approval for revised plans to build nine apartments and a hotel in Hoxton.
Jenrick calls in the Kensington Forum development
The Housing Secretary has waded into the long-playing planning battle for Queensgate and Rockwell Property's Kensington Forum scheme...
Government’s new national design code & Office for Place aim to ‘bring back beauty’
The Government has published a new set of national design standards for property developments, formally introducing the word "beauty" into planning rules for the first time.