Plans go in for giant entertainment sphere in Stratford

The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) has submitted plans for a futuristic sphere-shaped music and entertainment venue in Stratford, east London.

MSG want to build the 90-metre tall scheme on a 4.7 acre former coach park near the Olympic Park.

The 120-metre diameter building will take three-years to construct and will have a capacity of 21,500 people.

The sphere will sit on a four-storey base filling the whole site and its exterior will be clad with triangular LED panels displaying moving images.

Alongside the main venue MSG also plans a smaller music club/nightclub, retail space, a café, and restaurants.

Jayne McGivern, MSG’s Executive Vice President of Development and Construction, said: “This is an opportunity to take an inaccessible coach park and use it to support thousands of jobs, and billions of pounds of economic benefit.

“Our plans make training and local hiring a priority and would create a premier destination that serves as a long-term investment in the future of Newham, London, and the UK.

“If our plans are approved, we believe MSG Sphere will complement London’s existing venues and drive overall growth in the music and entertainment market – benefiting residents, artists and fans.”

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Go-ahead for £600m south London high rise scheme

Landowner Aviva Investors and leading London developer Galliard Homes have gained planning for a new £600m ‘town centre’ development on London’s Old Kent Road.

Cantium Retail Park scheme

The new development will involve construction of the Capital’s fourth tallest residential tower at 48-storeys, shops, offices and over 1,000 new homes.

Situated at 520 Old Kent Road, the 5-acre Cantium Retail Park scheme has been designed by local Southwark architectural practices – Brisac Gonzalez and Alan Camp Architects.

There will be four buildings rising to 37-storeys, two 11-storey and one of nine-storeys surrounding a central podium. The residential element of the buildings will be mixed tenure with separate cores for private sale, shared ownership and social-rented homes.

The new homes will include a mix of apartments, maisonettes, penthouses and townhouses, and 60,000 sq ft of offices, 24,000 sqft of retail space, 25,144 sqft of flexible space for restaurants, café, cinema and leisure premises and 6,415 sqft of space for cultural facilities such as a youth theatre or mini-opera house. The shops, restaurants and cafes are expected to create up to 580 new jobs.

The podium and one of the 11-storey buildings fronting onto the Old Kent Road will provide the majority of the development’s commercial floorspace, with 10 per cent of the space at discounted rent for start-up firms and small and medium-sized entreprises.

The new development will have a six-year construction programme. Existing Cantium Retail Park anchor tenants will be included in the development and the developers are holding discussions with other tenants about making provisions for them within the scheme.

Helen Rainsford, Senior Director at Aviva Investors said: “Aviva Investors is pleased planning consent has been granted for the regeneration of Cantium Retail Park.

“Working with Galliard Homes, we believe we can create a superb residential-led mixed-use development that will transform the site for the benefit of the local area.”

Stephen Conway, Executive Chairman of Galliard Homes said: “The regeneration of Cantium Retail Park will serve to kick-start the wider planned regeneration and transformation of the entire Old Kent Road into a vibrant new high quality commercial, retail and residential destination for South London.”

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£900m Bishopsgate Goodsyard scheme downsized

Hammerson and its development partner Ballymore have dramatically downsized proposals for the £900m Bishopsgate Goodsyard scheme in London.

Developers Hammerson and Ballymore have cut tower heights on Shoreditch scheme

Under local pressure for more housing, the proposed rejigged scheme will now have twice the number of homes at 500 units and a landmark office tower has been cut in height from 46 storeys to 29 storeys.

Overall, the revised proposals for developing The Goodsyard see the removal of the two high-rise residential towers originally proposed for the site in the existing planning application.

The JV is also significantly increasing the size of the proposed public park at the 10 acre, mixed-use urban quarter in the heart of Shoreditch.

Proposals now include 1.4m sq ft of offices and affordable workspace, 175,000 sq ft of shops, a destination building for cultural space on Brick Lane, as well as an elevated park.

The developers, working with master planner FaulknerBrowns Architects, Eric Parry Architects, Buckley Gray Yeoman, Spacehub, and Chris Dyson Architects, consulted on revisions to the existing planning application for the site in November.

Original high-rise plans for Bishopsgate Goodsyard site

John Mulryan, group managing director at Ballymore, said: “Bishopsgate Goodsyard is an incredible site, packaged with a great deal of challenges.

“Thanks to a combination of over five different railway lines and tunnels passing through this site, as well as many heritage assets and structures to be brought back into use, there are a number of site constraints in play.

“The site offers significant development potential that is also capable of being sensitive to the townscape.”

Tony Coughlan, Development Manager at Hammerson, said: “Working closely with the GLA and the local boroughs, we have reviewed our proposals with the aim of further optimising the number of homes, while maintaining a balanced mixed of uses.

“We are excited to bring forward this updated masterplan which we feel realises local ambitions and converts this derelict area into a vibrant new space; bringing a currently unused site back to life in the heart of Shoreditch.”

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