Capital Spaces: Transforming London

"What could London look like in 2012, the year of the Olympic Games? Could it be a city in which old and new buildings and public spaces, the historic and the contemporary, combine to create a world-class stage for the Olympics and a better place for its citizens?

English Heritage and the Royal Institute of British Architects have joined forces to publish a call to action to ensure London is fit for the spotlight of world attention. Capital Spaces: Transforming London was launched at Wellington Arch 8 February 2005, a week before the arrival of the International Olympic Committee in London."

St George's circus is mentioned (along with the Elephant & Castle plans) on page 19 (project 24). .

"Nearby, St George's Circus is to be restored. This once proud piece of Georgian town planning, where terraced houses raidate from a spacious circus, marks the meeting point of five routes. London South Bank University which owns most of the land in the area has a crucial role to play in the rejuvenation plans."

You can download a copy of Capital Spaces on the EH website at
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/default.asp?WCI=NewsItem&WCE=540

There is a sketch birds eye view showing a number of planned new buildings around the Circus and along London Road. The Duke of Clarence and the terrace seem to be kept, but with a taller building occupying the block immediately behind them.

The plans also appear to include demolishing the 1960s office block on the north east corner (east side of Blackfriars Road) and building a twin for the student housing that went up a few years ago on the north west corner on the former eye hospital site.

They also appear to include a tall building (10 storeys +???) on the junction of London Road opposite St George's RC Cathedral, on the currently empty airspace above the Bakerloo line sidings.
This seems a bizarre proposal for EH to endorse, as surely it would dominate theCathedral. (Having said this, the current south facade is underwhelming - is the Roman Catholic Church ever going to find/encourage an ultra-conservative benefactor to pay for completing the tower to Pugin's design rather than some more obviously deserving charitable purpose)

(The sketch is credited to and copyright "Urban Practioners" - a firm of regeneration consultants who have apparently been appointed by English Heritage- see this earlier press release
http://www.towncentres.ltd.uk/pages/mediacentre/press/18-03-04a.htm )