M&S Oxford Street store plan opposed by author Bill Bryson and architects
The author Bill Bryson and architects including the Stirling prize winner Steve Tompkins and Mark Hines, the project director for the remodelling of BBC Broadcasting House, have lined up to oppose plans to flatten Marks & Spencer’s store on London’s Oxford Street.
Bryson, who is best known for Notes from a Small Island and A Short History of Nearly Everything, has donated £500 to a fighting fund established by the campaign group Save Britain’s Heritage in the run-up to a public inquiry into the plan – under which M&S wants to build a new store and offices on the same site – ordered by the former communities secretary Michael Gove in June.
The scheme has become a poster child for the debate over a shift to retrofitting and refurbishing buildings rather than demolition and rebuilding, as part of efforts to cut the carbon footprint of development amid the climate crisis.
A report produced by the architect and net zero expert Simon Sturgis commissioned by Save argued that the M&S proposals were not compliant with the government’s net zero commitments or the Greater London Authority’s policy to prioritise retrofit.
However, M&S says its proposed new building would use less than a quarter of the energy of today’s structure, and the fabric of the existing site, known as the Arch, which is made up of three buildings of different ages with asbestos throughout, means that refurbishment is not a realistic option.
Stuart Machin, the co-chief executive of M&S, said: “Our investment will deliver far more than carbon reduction; it will be a better place for our customers to shop, a better place for our colleagues to work, and a better public realm for our community. Today and tomorrow.”
M&S looks likely to face considerable opposition to its
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