Plans to turn the London City Hall Building, once dubbed the ‘glass gonad’ by Boris Johnson into shops, restaurants and offices have been approved by local councillors, three years after it was left empty by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The building, once the headquarters of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly, has been unused for three years after Khan relocated offices to a conference centre in east London to cut costs.
The building will now undergo a revamp with the exterior glass shell removed and new balconies added in, The Evening Standard reported.
The plans were submitted by the building’s landlord St Martins Property Investments, based in Kuwait.
Southwark Council planning officers recommended that the changes be approved to modernise the building and surrounding area.
At a planning meeting yesterday, councillors gave it the green light.
Charlie Prentis, senior asset manager at St Martins, told The Evening Standard that after the departure of the mayor and Assembly, the landlord looked for a new occupier as quickly as possible, but found the building required significant updates to become re-lettable.
He said the ‘tricky facade’ gave it a ‘poor outlook’ to the London views and that inefficient floor plates, and poor EPC performance meant alterations were needed to create a more sustainable building for the future.
He insisted that St Martins believed it was still a ‘great building’, with distinctive features that they did not want to lose as part of the revamp.
Council officers said that the scheme would create 145 new jobs.
Liberal Democrat councillor Emily Tester, speaking at the meeting said it was a ‘shame’ that the building had been left empty for so long.
She added: ‘I have to say, it’s not necessarily the most exciting scheme being proposed, but that’s certainly not a material planning consideration, and I can’t see any reason to refuse it.
‘I really do hope that the retail offering is good, and kind of complements what is being offered elsewhere. I’m looking forward to seeing this brought back into use again.’
Boris Johnson once dubbed the building the ‘glass gonad’ and Ken Livingstone described it as a ‘glass testicle’,
In 20220, the building was reported to cost the GLA £11.1m a year, including rent to St Martins, plus service charges and rates. This was due to rise to £12.6m a year after Christmas 2021.
The London Assembly left the building in 2021 and moved to The Crystal building in the royal docks.
The building will undergo refurbishments with the exterior glass shell removed and new balconies added in
The decision was first suggested as part of efforts to fill a black hole of almost £500 million in the capital’s budget following the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Khan said when the plans were confirmed: ‘My first priority will always be to protect funding for frontline services for Londoners.
‘Given our huge budget shortfall, and without the support we should be getting from the Government, I simply cannot justify remaining at our current expensive office when I could be investing that money into public transport, the Met Police and the London Fire Brigade.
‘The alternative to considering this move would be to cut the frontline services Londoners rely on.’
