Savile Row tailors say office rejection would be a stitch-up

Planning officers at Westminster City Council have recommended that the office-led redevelopment of a former police station on Savile Row is rejected this week, despite a groundswell of support for the project from the street’s tailoring business community. Czech developer CPI Property lodged plans for the former Metropolitan Police station at 27 Savile Row, W1, in 2022. The proposed development would include office space, a restaurant and a rent-free home for the London Academy of Bespoke, a tailoring school. But officers have recommended that the council’s planning committee rejects the scheme “on design and conservation grounds”. They added: “The demolition of the existing building and the proposed replacement building’s scale, height, form, massing and detailed design would result in a development that would cause a low to moderate level of less than substantial harm to the character and appearance of the Regent Street Conservation Area and the low level of less than substantial harm to the significance of the Mayfair Conservation Area, through failing to preserve or enhance its setting.” Savile Row’s tailoring community, represented by the Savile Row Bespoke Association, have called on councillors to vote against the recommendation and approve the scheme. Mark Henderson, chair of the Savile Row Bespoke Association, said: “Restaurants, grade-A office space and affordable tailoring workspace are exactly the combination of things we need on the Row. At the moment, at the northern end of Savile Row, you have a derelict police station. This building can’t be left derelict; viewing from Regent Street, this is an important façade and it is vital it should look fresh, but also that it has a mix of uses completely complementary to the businesses on the Row. That is exactly what the Savile Row special policy demands, and that is what this development is proposing.” Photo courtesy of SEC Newgate