Sheppard Robson gets green light to demolish City office for hotel scheme

Sheppard Robson has the go-head to demolish a 1950s office block and replace it with a new 311-bed hotel on the eastern fringe of the City of LondonThe practice’s design for the development at Boundary House in Jewry Street is in two parts, one of 15 storeys and the other of eight , that also provide 456m² of co-working space, a ground-floor café and a rooftop restaurant and bar. The scheme will retain part of the existing basement and ground-floor levels, including ‘partial re-use of floor slab, columns and foundations’, according to the planning documents. This means about 17 per cent of the embodied carbon of the existing structure will be retained.The City of London Corporation’s planning and transportation committee resolved to approve the scheme for Ploeberger Hotel Group earlier this month. It regards the project as a boost for tourism that fits the corporation’s wider ambition for the area following the pandemic. Committee chair Shravan Joshi said: ‘Attracting UK and international visitors with a vibrant leisure and tourism offer is at the heart of the City’s recovery.’The corporation unveiled its Destination City vision in May. It aims to enhance the area’s leisure offer so as to attract visitors, workers and residents to the Square Mile. The new hotel’s co-working space will come with Section 106 commitments, including: 10 hours a month of free community use of meeting rooms; 10 hours a month of free meeting space hire for students; podcast studio rental at £35 an hour plus a half-price discount for 10 hours a month for community groups; and one free hire per month of event space for community groups. Dan Burr, partner at Sheppard Robson, which ranked fifth in this year’s AJ100, said: ‘The project really hinges on its amenity-first approach and how it opens up to the community. We wanted guests to feel part of neighbourhood and the neighbourhood to feel part of the building.‘The convergence of local and cultural uses at ground-floor level, alongside the night-time draw of the rooftop bar, will make the hotel a hive of activity. We think the hotel can become the new beating heart of a reimagined City neighbourhood, with the ground floor being a local “living room” for the area.’The new building is targeting a BREEAM Excellent sustainability rating. Made from matt and glazed bricks in shades of red, it will have a curved form and arched vaults at its base that echo nearby railway arches. Current service access in Rangoon Street will be turned into landscaped public realm with red glazed theatre seating steps and tree planting.A spokesperson for the Ploberger Hotel Group said they were ‘excited by the potential of Boundary House to help […] deliver on the City Corporation’s aspirations for a truly 24/7 City.‘We have worked closely with the City Corporation to ensure that our proposals have community at heart and can bring something fresh and innovative to the Square Mile.’