RM scheme hit by TfL's Underground expansion demands

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Royal Mail Paddington scheme hit by TfL’s Underground expansion demands http://www.propertyweek.com/professiona ... 44.article" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail’s plans to develop a 270,000 sq ft mixed use scheme next to Paddington train station could be sent back to the drawing board tonight as it failed to make provision for upgrade works to an underground station beneath it.

Royal Mail’s plans for its former sorting office on London Street will be submitted to Westminster Council’s planning committee tonight. Officials have said that the lack of provision for future expansion of the underground is “unacceptable”.

The site, which sits above a complicated network of London Underground tunnels and Royal Mail distribution tunnels, is believed by Transport for London to be the only viable site for expansion of the Bakerloo line station.

In a planning report before the committee tonight, officers said that the station is “at the limits of operational capacity and is inadequate to deal with expected growth.”

To accommodate the need for further expansion of the station at this site, Royal Mail would need to make changes to the foundations of its planned scheme to allow future excavation work.

Royal Mail argues that the special foundation work would cost an additional £6.2m, and it would need to cut back on other areas, such as the amount of social housing provided in the scheme, to make the make the project financially viable.

The report clearly states that “the need to provide for the potential expansion of the Bakerloo Line ticket hall should take precedence”.

Royal Mail wants to develop a 122,000 sq ft offices, 105 private apartments and 36 social housing units across three buildings at the site.