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Rambert’s £14m South Bank base in doubt after legal challenge

Published Thursday 2 October 2008 at 11:05 by Lalayn Baluch

Plans for Rambert Dance Company’s new £14 million purpose-built home have been thrown into question, following English Heritage and Westminster City Council’s decision to legally challenge a proposed 144-metre tower block development which will house the venue.

The Doon Street project - the brainchild of Coin Street Community Developers and based near London’s South Bank - was approved by local government secretary Hazel Blears in August.

Rambert’s new home will be based in a building adjoining the tower block, which as a stand-alone structure was given planning permission last year. However, according to the dance company’s chief executive Nadia Stern, work cannot go ahead until the entire project is approved.

She told The Stage that she was disappointed by the news, and said that the legal challenge threw the project into “uncertainty”.

Rambert officials are now in talks with the developers to establish how the appeal will have an impact on plans for the venue.

The development has been a point of contention for some time. Despite being opposed by English Heritage and Westminster council on the grounds that it would cause “serious harm” to London’s heritage, Blears gave it the go-ahead by arguing that the development’s community benefits would outweigh its drawbacks.

Now, the two bodies have decided to appeal her decision. English Heritage chief executive Simon Thurley argued that community benefits could be delivered through “a less harmful scheme”.

He added: “We urge the secretary of state to respond positively to this challenge and to look again at the ways in which this scheme can be delivered which avoids harm to one of London’s greatest assets - its heritage.”

Meanwhile, Westminster council believes that the “monstrously” tall tower block will ruin London’s historic landscape and block the view from the Blue Bridge in St James’ Park.

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