M&S 'bewildered' over Gove's intervention in flagship store plans

Marks & Spencer says it is “bewildered and disappointed” after the government hit pause on plans to redevelop its flagship store in Marble Arch.

M&S wants to demolish its 100-year-old property in the famous London shopping district and replace it with a more modern building with “a ground plus nine storey mixed use development”, which will include a smaller shop, offices, and a gym.

But campaigners claimed that demolishing and rebuilding the property would have an adverse impact on the environment, particularly through CO2 emissions.

A report by carbon expert Simon Sturgis suggested that the existing shop should be re-fitted and renovated instead, adding that demolishing it was a contradiction of Westminster Council policies requiring old buildings to be retained where possible.

The council and London mayor Sadiq Khan had allowed the plans to progress, but on Monday, Communities Secretary Michael Gove hit the pause button.

Under his order, an Article 31 holding direction, the council cannot grant planning permission until the government has examined the plans.

Sacha Berendji, group property, store development, and technology director at M&S, said: “After two years of working with Westminster City Council, the (Greater London Authority) and local business and resident community which has supported the development at every stage, we are bewildered and disappointed at Michael Gove’s baseless decision to call in the proposed redevelopment of our Marble Arch site.

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“The secretary of state has blocked the only retail-led regeneration in the whole of Oxford Street in a building which was refused listed status due to its low design quality and, while safe, cannot be modernised through re-fitting as it is three separate buildings containing asbestos.”

‘Gold-standard retail-led redevelopment or hawking counterfeit goods’

Mr Berendji added: “Twenty percent of units on Oxford Street lay vacant and the secretary of state appears to prefer a proliferation of stores hawking counterfeit goods to a gold-standard retail-led regeneration of the nation’s favourite high street.

“All the while this political grandstanding goes on (and) we cannot get on with creating a better place to shop for our customers, a better place to work for our colleagues, and a better public realm for the community, in a store that would use less than a quarter of the energy required by the existing buildings.

“Indeed an independent assessment of the building’s carbon impact across its whole life-cycle concluded that the new build offered significant sustainability advantages over a refurbishment and, on completion, will be among the top 10% performing buildings in London.

“For a government purportedly focussed on the levelling up agenda, calling in this significant investment in one of our most iconic shopping locations will have a chilling effect for regeneration programmes across the country at a time when many town centres are being left behind and the property market is ever more precarious.”

Sky News has requested a response from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

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