Margaret Thatcher was amazed as she admired a £ 200 cashmere sweater. “That’s great. That’s what I call an investment,” she said. The then prime minister visited the newly expanded Marks & Spencer store in Marble Arch in 1987 as shoppers prepared for Christmas. Thatcher was surrounded by Lord Raynor, chairman of the the retailer while spending nearly two hours touring the store, meeting with staff, greeting customers and choosing a few items.
The M&S store on Oxford Street in the 1930s. Photo: Marx and Spencer
More than three decades later, the relationship between the high-ranking official and the current conservative regime is far less cordial, as the dispute over the same Oxford Street store in London threatens to become a célèbre cause in the battle for reconstruction and the fate of the main streets of Great Britain.
This week, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Leveling, Housing and Communities, ordered a public investigation into the plan to demolish and rebuild the main store on Britain’s most famous main street.
Activists say the project will release 40,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, while M&S says government intervention in its “significant investment in one of our most iconic shopping places” could have a “chilling effect on regeneration programs across the country. “.
The M&S store on Oxford Street in the 1950s. Photo: Marx and Spencer
Sasha Berenji, M&S’s property director, pointed to Oxford Street’s struggles to fill the empty stores as major retailers withdrew, saying Gove “seems to prefer the proliferation of counterfeit stores to the regeneration of the nation’s favorites with gold standard, guided by the main street retail ”.
M&S has renovated other stores – such as Cheltenham and Chelmsford – but says restructuring the existing Marble Arch store, created decades after the merger of three obsolete buildings, some of which contain asbestos, is not viable.
Margaret Thatcher attended M&S at Marble Arch in 1987.
The retailer argues that any significant refurbishment of the existing building would involve the creation of additional carbon emissions without providing as many benefits from the new building. Its planned development is set to use 25% less energy than the existing site – the benefits of its designers, according to Pilbrow + Partners, will last a century – with a maximum carbon return of 17 years and potentially less than 10.
This argument won over Westminster council planning authorities, while London Mayor Sadiq Khan chose not to interfere with the M&S application, considering it in line with the capital’s planning strategy.
As major streets across the country need reconstruction to meet modern requirements, as the climate crisis intensifies, the debate over whether problematic buildings should be repaired or redeveloped will become increasingly heated.
The leading M&S store in 2000. Photo: Marks and Spencer
Will Hirst, managing editor of Architects’ Journal, who supported a letter urging Gove to intervene in M&S Oxford Street’s plans, is raising awareness of the carbon footprint of the new buildings through his Retro First campaign. He says three-quarters of local authorities have already declared a climate emergency, but “many have failed when it comes to planning and development.”
He says more than a third of the lifelong emissions of a typical office block and more than half of residential buildings are spent on construction, so it would become “pointless to keep waving proposals” for advice on new environmental issues. builds.
“People are starting to realize the impact of reuse on a huge scale, like construction, because they understand it on a small scale,” he says. “They are looking to buy second-hand clothes or realize that they do not have to change their smartphone every six months.”
Nicholas Boyce Smith, director of the think tank Create Streets, said: “Obviously, public expectations and the political process are moving. Change is on the way without a shadow of a doubt. “
Green, but not green enough? Image of the proposed M&S remodeling of the Oxford Street store. Photo: Marks & Spencer
With carbon issues on the agenda, he says there will be “some inconsistency” in decision-making and some advice and developers will be caught.
M&S ‘plans may have attracted national attention, but similar projects nearby, such as the demolition and redevelopment of the House of Fraser store in Victoria, appear to have been swept away without much drama.
The entire city center is planned to be hit by the destructive ball at Cumbernauld in Scotland, as well as the former Debenhams in Torquay, Devon, while there are battles over plans to demolish the Debenhams in Taunton. An application to destroy another in Harrogate was recently withdrawn.
On Oxford Street alone, some shops have already been demolished and rebuilt. However, the former Debenhams, House of Fraser, Next and Topshop stores have been refurbished, not demolished.
The M&S store in Oxfords St, as seen in the 90s. Photo: Marx and Spencer
Outside of London, there are numerous examples of reggae construction, including the Jenners Building in Edinburgh and the Hammonds of Hull Food Hall, which was set up within Fraser’s former house.
Melanie Leach, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said entrepreneurs “are already embracing the circular economy and meeting market demand for more sustainable buildings”. She called on the government to do more to speed up progress, including planning reforms to prioritize the reuse of buildings and VAT exemptions for renovations.
In Westminster, there may still be a change in approach to the M&S project after the Conservative administration was pushed out by Labor in the recent council elections for the first time since its creation in 1964.
Jeff Baracklow, planning adviser, said: “The council is serious about reducing the environmental impact of new construction, emphasizing the benefits of retrofitting over demolition.
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He welcomed Gove’s intervention, saying that “all issues raised in this case can be rigorously tested.”
Henrietta Billings, director of Save Britain’s Heritage, added: “There are many examples where you can revise existing buildings with a little imagination without having to demolish them.
“We need to get to a point where unnecessary demolition of buildings is unacceptable due to the cost of the environment – when [demolition] is the last resort rather than the first. “
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