{"id":24717,"date":"2019-12-03T16:10:03","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T16:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=24717"},"modified":"2019-12-03T16:10:03","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T16:10:03","slug":"whitechapel-big-ben-bell-foundry-hotel-plan-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=24717","title":{"rendered":"Whitechapel Big Ben bell foundry hotel plan approved"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"building\"Plans to redevelop the historical bell foundry where Big Ben was cast into a boutique hotel have been approved by Tower Hamlets Council.<\/h3>\n

image:\u00a0By Mramoeba – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=53705569<\/em><\/h6>\n

<\/p>\n

BBC News writes:<\/p>\n

Whitechapel Bell Foundry started up in east London in 1570. The current site was sold to developers who proposed changing it into a hotel and workshop.<\/p>\n

The plans were backed by the site’s former owners, but campaigners had called for the foundry to re-open.<\/p>\n

Tower Hamlets Council’s development committee has approved the scheme by the chair’s deciding vote.<\/p>\n

The foundry, which also made the Liberty Bell, which hangs in Philadelphia, is listed in the Guinness World Records as the oldest manufacturing firm in Britain.<\/p>\n

It had been based on the site in Whitechapel Road since 1738, but in 2016 its owners announced the operation would move elsewhere in the UK due to a \u2018downturn in orders\u2019.<\/p>\n

Whitechapel tower bells are now being cast by the Westley Group Ltd, near Stoke-on-Trent, while Whitechapel handbells are being cast in south London.<\/p>\n

The proposals, submitted by Raycliff Whitechapel LLP, will see the refurbishment of part of the Grade II* listed foundry to create new workshops and a cafe, while an unlisted 1980s extension in the rear will be demolished and replaced with a 103-room hotel.<\/p>\n

A council report on the application found the plans would provide \u2018long-term public access through the site\u2019.<\/p>\n

Historic England said it would provide a \u2018high degree\u2019 of heritage benefits.<\/p>\n

However, there were about 780 objections to the scheme and one councillor told the development committee the plans would amount to \u2018historical vandalism\u2019.<\/p>\n

The UK Historic Buildings Preservation Trust (UKHBPT), which does not own the site but had proposed a plan to restart manufacturing at the foundry, said it was \u2018deeply saddened\u2019 by the committee’s decision and was considering launching a judicial review.<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plans to redevelop the historical bell foundry where Big Ben was cast into a boutique hotel have been approved by Tower Hamlets Council. image:\u00a0By Mramoeba – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=53705569<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24718,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24717\/revisions\/24718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}