SHOREDITCH DEVELOPMENT PROJECT SHELVED

hg.editorial@archant.co.uk
19 February 2009

A property giant's dream of transforming Shoreditch with a multi-million pound regeneration project including a 51-storey skyscraper has been dealt a further blow this week.

Hammerson, the developer behind the controversial £500million Bishop's Place scheme, has indefinitely postponed construction work on all its proposed UK projects due to the credit crunch.

The company has also announced a refinancing package as it seeks to raise almost £585 million from investors by selling discounted shares.

A company spokesman said: "In the current economic climate, Hammerson does not intend to start construction of any major development projects, although it is continuing to progress the planning and design stages so that the schemes could be advanced in the future."

Whilst the Bishop's Place scheme is only at the planning stage, residents now hope for a period of breathing space in which they can have a greater input on the scale of the project.

Rebecca Collings, the co-chair of OPEN Shoreditch, said: "We welcome this pause in development pressure.

"It's an opportunity for all of the area's stakeholders to stop and think about what's right for their common future.

"Shoreditch is a crossroads between Hackney, Tower Hamlets and the City of London.

"This makes it all the more critical to have a community-based masterplan to create a cohesive and visionary future, in place of the development free-for-all of the recent past."

Hammerson has already hit by significant obstacles in its bid to build a 51-storey skyscraper including offices, homes and a hotel on the former Bishopsgate Goods Yard.

Last month, Hackney Council agreed to include the Light Bar, the former Victorian railway power station which stands in the way of the planned development, within a conservation area.

Martin Jepson, the Hammerson Managing Director for the London Group, said: "We are continuing to work with Hackney Council to move Bishops Place forward and are currently reviewing our options following the recent decision to include the Light Bar within the South Shoreditch Conservation area."





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