Tonkin Liu gets green light for ‘radical’ overhaul of Grosvenor Square

Tonkin Liu has received planning permission to transform Grade II-listed Grosvenor Square in central LondonWestminster City Council’s planning committee gave the go-ahead for improvements to the garden square in Mayfair, including new public toilets and an education building, wetlands, waterfall canopies and plinths for displaying public art.However the approval is conditional on housing secretary Michael Gove approving the removal of the park’s Diplomatic Gates, which were dedicated in 1984 to commemorate the bicentennial of the Treaty of Paris.The proposed design replaces these with hinged gates to match new boundary railings. The associated memorial plaque and commemorative inscribed paving stones would be lifted, repaired and re-laid in a similar spot.Councillors also granted conditional listed building consent to allow for restoration work to the park’s Grade II-listed Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.An officer report for the committee had described the project as a ‘radical makeover’ but recommended its approval despite objections from, among others, the London Gardens Trust and the Designing Out Crime Office. The majority of consultation responses supported the proposals.Developer Grosvenor, which has consulted with residents and local interest groups on the project since 2018, expects work to begin on the 1.79ha site – the largest garden square in Mayfair – in early 2024.James Raynor, chief executive of Grosvenor Property UK, which intends to deliver and operate the scheme as carbon neutral, said: ‘The pandemic underscored the lack of high-quality green space in central London that makes room for both people and nature. This incredible project will deliver much of what is needed so badly –?creating an exceptional environment for everyone who lives in, or comes to, the area.’David Chipperfield’s reinvention of the Grade II-listed former US embassy on Grosvenor Square as the Chancery Rosewood hotel is due for completion in 2024.