How the new tower could look

COUNCIL chiefs cannot say they are serious about climate change if they approve a controversial bid to demolish a tower block and replace it with a larger building.

Developer Simten has applied to demolish a former Travelodge hotel on the corner of Museum Street and New Oxford Street and replace it with a 19-storey building.

It could boast 48 homes, a new public route, space for 1,800 jobs, shops and cafés.

But an umbrella group representing civic societies, institutes and some of Bloomsbury and central London’s biggest landlords, have combined to block the scheme.

Architect Jim Monahan, a member of the Save Museum Street group, said: “The latest report makes it blindingly obvious that councillors, if they are serious about their statements and policies concerning climate change, must turn down the developers’ avaricious and greedy scheme.

“It grossly exceeds UK’s net-zero CO2 emission legislative targets, fails to meet any of the GLA carbon targets, and shows that the developers have concocted their comparisons of redevelopment versus retrofit in order to show that their terribly damaging scheme is somehow the best thing since sliced bread.”

A new report from independent carbon measuring firm Targeting Zero has also laid out just how bad for the environment demolition would be.

Director Simon Sturgis offers damning evidence as to why the project would break Camden Council’s stated aim of hitting net-zero by 2030.

The report said: “There is ample policy at a national, GLA and local level to justify rejecting this application.

“Camden must decide what they believe in.

“Do they decide in favour of achieving net-zero at a faster pace than the UK government, as they claim, or do they decide in favour of the developer’s whose proposal is to optimise site value with no serious regard for climatic or carbon impacts?”

Last month the developers’ plans received a body blow when Historic England announced it was giving a set of buildings earmarked for development as part of the scheme listed protection.

The current building

Selkirk House was the head offices of hotel chain Trust House Forte and more recently a hotel.

Among those who say the project will damage a vital part of London’s Georgian and Victorian heritage include the Victorian Society, the Georgian Society, Historic England and Save Britain’s Heritage.

Mr Monahan said: “Following the listing of buildings on the site, it is time for Camden to call a halt to this charade. The developers should withdraw their application and this time work with the locality and national heritage organisations to come up with an acceptable scheme.”

Simten say the current building is not fit for purpose, with low ceilings and a car park that would be hard to find a new use for.

They say starting from scratch would allow them to create a modern, fit-for-purpose building with high eco-credentials.

A spokesman for Simten said: “We take our impact on the environment seriously, focusing on long-term sustainability.

“We think this is best done by ensuring carbon impacts are minimised and that resulting buildings offer long-term social and economic value. We have assessed the carbon and wider sustainability impacts of a range of options and produced a detailed assessment.”

They added they had been in discussions with both the council and Mr Sturgis, with their plans reviewed by independent experts.

“We have taken account of Simon Sturgis’s publications and when we shared the redevelopment options report, we proposed a meeting to review. We believe that progress will be made through discussion and understanding alternative views in this complex and important area.

“We believe that the proposals for One Museum St represent a thoughtful and balanced approach to bringing this long-vacant site back into sustainable use for the long term. We acknowledge the additional up-front embodied carbon impact of the scheme, driven partly by increasing the density, but believe well connected, previously developed, urban locations are the right place for this uplift to happen.”