Farringdon’s demolished Cardinal Tower Image: Creative Commons License
An application to build a seven-storey block on Farringdon Road was refused last night by an Islington planning committee amid privacy and obstruction concerns.
The building would replace Farringdon’s demolished Cardinal Tower, and have frontages onto Farringdon Road and Cowcross Street.
Planning officer Stefan Sanctuary told the committee that following public consultation, there had been 215 letters of objection from residents all relating to the potential loss of sunlight and sense of encirclement due to the bulk and scope of the building.
The Building Research Establishment, which advises on construction projects, failed the plans following sunlight tests which concluded that the building would provoke “noticeable” light loss.
A Farringdon Residents’ Association spokesperson, Mike James, spoke out against the proposals.
“When a case officer visited our third floor flat, he spontaneously remarked that the only way we would see any of the sky would be when lying down.”
The 38 feet-high building, would also break Islington council policy on tall buildings.
A representative for the property group Cardinal Lysander said it was working to “strike the right balance” with the application, and would offer workers the London Living Wage.
Liberal Democrat councillor for Clerkenwell, George Allan, sided with tenants, saying he was unsure the “much greater bulk” would do residents and surrounding environment justice and instead result in a “greater sense of enclosure”.
The five man committee unanimously rejected the proposal. Cardinal Lysander and Crossrail will begin work on a new submission in 2013.
