Tate Extension and 240 Blackfriars Appoved

Tate Extension and 240 Blackfriars Appoved

In what's been a busy time for the planning committee at Southwark several new major developments have been approved.

The most noteworthy is the proposed extension for the Tate Modern that will will sit to the immediate south of the Tate Modern and should provide 23,400 square metres of new space for the gallery.

The architects of the project, Herzog & de Meuron, who also worked on the conversion of the old Bankside Power Station have designed a large pyramidal heap of glass boxes growing to a central point that will rise about 70 meters in height.

Included in the design is a 400 seat auditorium, 7,000 square meters of space that can be given over to an artistic organisation as specific exhibition space for them, groundworks that feature 1300 new trees and new pedestrian routes though the area.

The whole thing is budgeted at £165 million. Like so many things in London the key date seems to be the coming Olympics so the Tate hope that the scheme can be delivered in time for a 2012 opening.

Also approved by the planning committee is the office development by Great Portland Estates for 240 Blackfriars Road that will stand opposite the planned Land Securities towers, also on Blackfriars road.

240 Blackfriars is crystalline shaped smooth-skinned glass office block containing 12,000 square metres of new office space and rising 15 floors which should work out around 60 metres in height, a relative minnow compared to neighbouring proposals. There will also be the usual ground-floor retail.

GPE bought the site for £11 million in late 2005. The existing block has recently been refurbished and is let out until December 2008 by KMPG giving a useful guide of when construction can start.

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