London’s controversial Tulip tower rejected over carbon and design concerns

Today, November 11, secretary of levelling up, housing and communities Michael Gove has, on the planning inspector's recommendation, decided to block the development on environmental and design grounds. This comes after it had been widely reported that the project would receive a green light in today's appeal.

Gove agrees with the inspector that “the extensive measures that would be taken to minimise carbon emissions during construction would not outweigh the highly unsustainable concept of using vast quantities of reinforced concrete for the foundations and lift shaft to transport visitors to as high a level as possible to enjoy a view”. He adds that it “would not amount to good design”.

The decision letter reads: “Overall, the Secretary of State agrees with the Inspector that the approach would be a muddle of architectural ideas and would be compromised, and that the unresolved principles behind the design would mean that in many regards it would fall between two stools. He further agrees that the development would not amount to a design of outstanding quality, and that the quality of design would not be nearly high enough as to negate its harm to the settings of heritage assets.”

The planning application was referred to central government after having been rejected by London mayor Sadiq Khan in 2019 for for “insufficient quality” and having “very limited public benefit”.

Historic England chief executive Duncan Wilson said: “We have always opposed the proposal, mainly due to the impact it would have on the Tower of London, and so are pleased with this decision. We have long been of the opinion that the ‘Tulip’ would be visually intrusive and highly incongruous from key viewpoints of the Tower, detracting from the experience of visiting the site for millions of tourists and Londoners.

“It is also our view that it would harm the extraordinary significance of the Tower of London as a World Heritage Site, and therefore the proposals ran contrary to local and national planning policies. We welcome this outcome, which will help to protect one of the world’s great historic monuments that has provided a stage for our shared history for over 900 years.”

The Foster & Partners development was designed mainly to attract visitors, as it would not house any homes or offices, but would feature a publicly accessible observation deck, bars and restaurants. It would have become the tallest structure in London’s financial district – although 1m shorter than the Shard.

The design included a dome composed of compact, exposed structural steel members with glass infill panels has been designed with a lattice frame that arches over the top structural level.

Floors at the top of the tower were designed to be made of composite slabs supported by a steel frame, with six inclined, round steel columns supporting the outer edges of the steel-framed floor levels.

The concrete lift shaft would have had an outer diameter of 14.3m and a wall thickness of 900mm and supported the inner edges of the floors through embedded plates cast within the walls.

Mace had already thrown its hat into the ring to construct the Tulip, having recently completed Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium and winning the Euston Station HS2 contract in a JV with Dragados.

Skanska and Careys were also rumoured to be partnering up to supply the concrete frames for the tower, which would be a reassembling of the team that worked with Foster & Partners on the Gherkin.

WSP also expressed admiration for the project, saying it will “very much be an exciting addition to London’s skyline and when the time comes [and] there’s no doubt going to be a lot of interest from a variety of consultancies”.

Photo credit: © DBOX for Foster + Partners

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