<\/p>\n
However while the council then agreed the scheme had \u2018considerable architectural merit\u2019 it rejected it on the grounds it would harm the local conservation area, concluding that it was \u2018not exceptional enough to overcome the loss of the existing building\u2019 which had \u2018both historic significance and aesthetic and townscape merit\u2019.<\/p>\n
Heritage bodies including SAVE Britain\u2019s Heritage, the Spitalfields Trust and the Twentieth Century Society, preparing to take part in the inquiry, welcomed the decision to ditch the plans.<\/p>\n
Director of SAVE Britain\u2019s Heritage, Henrietta Billings, said: \u2018Great care was taken to design this delightful, modest [existing] building on Bell Lane to blend with the traditional scale of the narrow streets around it.\u00a0 Just a few hundred metres\u00a0away from the office towers of the City, the historic streets in this area buzz with life thanks to their human scale \u2013 in spite of intense development pressures. We are delighted that the building has been reprieved.\u2019<\/p>\n
For more background see UK Construction online<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Artist Tracey Emin, and her architect David Chipperfield, have pulled the plug on an appeal over a controversial project involving plans for demolition of a locally-listed block of 1920s council flats on Bell Lane, in London\u2019s Spitalfields, to provide Emin … Continue reading