The University of Westminster has been granted planning permission to build a new library and student services facility on part of its Cavendish campus after making a last minute commitment to provide additional greenery and public open space.
Latimer House along Hanson Street, which has been vacant since 2016, will be demolished and replaced with a seven-storey library and student workspace block, after a Westminster Council planning committee gave it the go ahead this week.
The new building would “align and connect” with the wider Cavendish Campus, include a student union shop at ground floor and a fourth floor terrace “for studying, socialising and relaxing”, according to architects Perksin&Will. It will also consist of a courtyard, terraces and a gridded facade with bronze spandrel panels.
It occupies a whole street block and is one of five facilities in the borough which make up the university’s West End Campus.
At the committee meeting, a representative for University of Westminster Students’ Union, which will be based in the new building, spoke in support of the plans to say the proposal brings student services, social spaces and a library all under one roof.
He said: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to complete the Cavendish block with a building that reflects the university and the union’s strategic values and aspirations.”
Ian Goodfellow, from architects Perkins&Will, said the proposal was a “unique opportunity” to transform Latimer House, which housed an NHS clinic until its closure in 2016. The building was bought by the University but has remained vacant since it was purchased.
Perkins&Will are signatories to Architects Declare, a commitment to prioritise refurbishment and retrofitting of buildings to address the climate-damaging effects of demolition.
He justified the demolition, saying: “This proposal replaces an outdated and inaccessible building with a modern, inclusive and sustainable hub that will benefit students, staff and the wider community. It is respectful in scale, responsible in material use, and beneficial to its urban setting. We believe this is a building that will stand the test of time.”
However, local residents and community groups had criticised the scheme saying that it would contribute nothing to the local neighbourhood, would not allow public access to the new courtyard, and would not deliver the greening and improved public open space promised during pre-application discussions. They also said Latimer House is “perfectly usable” and should be refurbished rather than demolished due to the climate emergency.
But in a report published ahead of the meeting Westminster City planning officers took the view that it would be difficult to bring the 1930s building to current standards because of several “constraints”, namely, a non-functional entrance, “significant” variation in levels between Latimer House and the Cavendish Campus, and floor structures filled with materials that make it unlikely to comply with fire standards.
They also said the existing structure cannot take on additional storeys. Officers said the site would be used “as a social and community facility” after an extended period of vacancy and improve the borough’s educational offering.
Although the proposal would result in an additional 3,622 square metres of floor space, the university claimed there would be no increase in staff or student numbers and it would lead to improved student facilities.
“The new building would represent an outstanding piece of new architecture, which would respect the townscape of its surroundings, and would relate sensitively and successfully to the significance of the main 115NCS university building as a non-designated heritage asset. There would be no effects on nearby designated heritage assets,” stated the report to the committee.
Officers wrote that the university also “aspires” to build a pocket park between New Cavendish Street and Clipstone Street.
It was this lack of commitment to a small green space that led to a bone of contention between the university and local residents’ groups who felt the institution was going back on its word to improve the untidy Cleveland Street side of the site, and they attended the meeting to press the point to councillors on the planning committee.
Representatives from the Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association, Fitzrovia West Neighbourhood Forum and the Portland Village Association all spoke about the importance of improving the eastern elevation of the site which they said had been neglected by the university.
To head off the criticism, the university told planning officers ahead of the committee meeting that it would be willing to enter into a future legal agreement with Westminster Council to create and maintain a small public green oasis where the campus faces Cleveland Street.
The planning committee unanimously passed the application subject to a s106 legal agreement to deliver and maintain greening and public realm improvements.
Latimer House was last used by the NHS as a general health centre and clinic and served before that as a geriatric day hospital. The four-storey brick building was constructed in the 1930s to house boys from disadvantaged London homes who had boarded at Kingham Hill School, Oxfordshire, and were later brought back to learn trades in London. It was purchased by the university in recent years.
Additional reporting by Linus Rees.
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