Two major Dockland schemes get knocked back

Two major residential-led schemes in Docklands as of last week got refused planning consent. The first; Angel House, 225 Marsh Wall (below left) had 265 residential units and 56 hotel beds proposed. The second; Skylines, (below right) also on Marsh Wall had 806 residential units and 103 hotel beds proposed.

Interestingly both were refused on the same day and by delegated powers, not at committee, very strange for schemes of such size.

If you look further into the delegated report however, the reasoning behind this becomes clearer. In the case of 225 Marsh Wall, the south-facing residential units in the lower 22-storeys would receive substandard levels of daylight and sunlight (40% losses) with the 9 lower storeys receiving losses in daylight of 90%. This would be created due to the Skylines development literally across the road.

So, are these two projects now dead in the water? Probably not just yet. It looks as though Tower Hamlets Council has asked both developers and architects to go back to the drawing board and work together so that neither schemes are too dominating. If they want to build out these sites they will have to accommodate one another, namely Skylines over Angel House as it's directly south.

You have to feel for the developers of Angel House, their application was deferred at committee back in February, a full 4 days after Skylines was first submitted to the council. It went to committee with the recommendation to grant and you can imagine the planners trying to drag it back in order to commission a sunlight report. That must have been an awkward conversation.