FAQs – draft

The western part of the proposed building has been lowered by three storeys (over 10 metres). The building will sit between the taller buildings of The Heron and Cromwell Tower and will be only three floors higher (c.15 metres) than the existing building at One Silk Street.

These changes have been designed to address objections relating to mass and bulk as well as heritage and daylight, and to generally reduce the scale and prominence of the proposal

Further details can be found here. 

We have refined the façades and proposed materiality of the buildings to improve the relationship between One Silk Street and its surrounding context.

Further details can be found here.

The revisions to the height and bulk massing significantly improve the outcomes of the daylight / sunlight assessment, particularly in relation to homes in to Cromwell Tower

Further details can be found here.

Proposed terraces on the western part of the building have been removed as they were causing concern about the overlooking of neighbouring residents and new obscured glass panels have been added to parts of the façade to provide greater privacy. This is in addition to providing fins on the facade to divert sightlines and automatic blinds that will lower at dusk and mitigate against light spill.

To put the proposals within their context, the building would be 45 metres (half the length of a football pitch) from The Heron Residential Tower, 28 metres (the equivalent of up to 3 London double-decker buses) from Cromwell Tower and 24 metres (the same as 8 parked cars) from Speed House.  We are therefore substantially more than 18 metres away from our neighbours; which is generally accepted as the minimum distance (based on guidance) between properties in a built-up urban environment.

Further details can be found here.

The western part of the building has been realigned to create 989sqm of enhanced public space, including a new, welcoming plaza at the Barbican Centre’s main entrance. This will increase visibility and accessibility for the cultural institutions in this unique corner of the City and provide engaging public-facing spaces for art, performance, community events and support the City of London’s Destination City initiative.

The introduction of the new Ropemaker arcade will also provide a new pedestrian route through the site, connecting the Barbican Centre to Moorgate and provide an attractive alternative for pedestrians to Silk Street.

Further details can be found here.

The revised proposals include a dedicated cultural space for live performances, that nurtures emerging talent and improves access to cultural experiences in the Square Mile. An updated façade design clearly distinguishes the venue from the commercial elements of the building and gives it a distinct cultural identity.

Complementing the cultural space will be a dedicated community space – the “Creative Community Lab” –that supports grassroots creative talent and community activity.

The entrances to both spaces are located on Ropemaker Arcade to support grassroots creative talent and community activity in a location away from residents.

Further details can be found here.

Once the building is fully vacant, we will commence soft-stripping of the internal elements of the building. We do not require planning permission for this.

As part of the original application, we also submitted a Construction Management Plan that follows the City of London’s Code of Construction Practice and outlines some of the key mitigation methods we would use during the construction of the proposed new such as working hours, deliveries, dust and noise to minimise disruption to residents.

Since then, we have continued to develop our approach to managing the construction process and further minimise potential impacts of the works. We will now implement the following measures on top of the previously submitted construction management plan:

• Use of electric construction vehicles and tools wherever possible.
• Construction vehicles will be fitted with low‑impact reversing alarms rather than standard tonal alarms.
• There will be no construction works on Saturdays – whilst this was previously proposed in accordance with the City’s guidance, which allows working hours of 9am to 2pm on Saturdays – we have chosen to remove Saturday working altogether to further reduce potential disruption.
• Provision of temporary quiet workspaces for neighbours, offering access to Wi‑Fi and facilities for meetings or work during periods of noisy activity.