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A drawing of the proposed glass extension for the museum |
Museum shock as councillors reject extension plan
BRITISH Museum officials say they are waiting for Camden Council to explain their decision to reject plans for a £132million development by modernist architect Lord Richard Rogers.
Museum directors are considering a possible appeal to the government after the proposed three-storey extension – described as “ghastly” by critics – was thrown out on Thursday night at the Town Hall.
Councillors voted 5-4 against the five-storey extension with a three-tier basement. The scheme would have seen the new building sandwiched between the museum and a Georgian terrace next door to the site, and would have been pushed up against a giant arched window that brings light into classical Victorian architect Robert Smirke’s celebrated Arched Room.
The Bloomsbury museum’s assistant director Andrew Burnett said: “We thought we had made a compelling case which drew a balance between our responsibility to our great buildings, the historic environment, the museum’s collection and the public benefits that would flow from this scheme.
“The need for the benefits the scheme would provide has not gone away. The committee have not yet provided their formal reasons for refusal.”
The museum was criticised by the Bloomsbury Conservation Area Advisory Committee (CAAC), the Camden Civic Society and a collection of architects and conservationists. The Georgian Group, Save Britain’s Heritage, the Ancient Monuments Society, Heritage of London Trust and The London Society all weighed in with objections. Camden Civic Society chairman Martin Morton said: “They need the space but this was massive overdevelopment.
“They ignored the signals that this would not wash for architectural and aesthetic reasons.
“We spoke to the museum six weeks ago and they made some alterations but not enough.
“It was not just ourselves and the CAAC – a variety of experts and academics also agreed it was ghastly.”
Architect Hugh Cullum of the Bloomsbury Conservation Area Advisory Committee, suggested a small exhibition space could be built but said plans for research rooms should undergo a re-think. Instead of having three storeys, he suggested one floor would do and the research rooms could be sited elsewhere.
Green councillor Maya De Souza, who sits on the planning committee and voted against the scheme, said: “The proposal for this large building squeezed into most of the remaining space on the site would have had a negative impact on some of the most special spaces in the library like the Arched Room, which would have had little natural light.
“The design, though an interesting one, also failed to reflect the neo-classical character of the existing building and that was the view of expert historians who took the time to write in.”
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