Architecture Update: Development curb

ANY thoughts that the Department of the Environment may have had about redeveloping its site at Marsham Street will have to be revised in the light of new demands by Westminster Council. Marsham Street lies just inside the council's 'Activities Zone', an area designated for office use but where the council insists new schemes should include housing and shops with plenty of activity at street level and new public spaces. Westminster, which issued a planning brief for the site last week, says no new building should go above six storeys in order to reinstate views of the Houses of Parliament; the current DoE headquarters is 19 storeys tall. Alex Segal, chairman of the council's planning committee, says 'this site represents one of the most challenging and exciting urban regeneration projects in London for many years.'