Campaigners are calling for planning rules to be consider the environmental implications of knocking down buildings after a controversial redevelopment of Marks & Spencer’s historic store on London’s Oxford Street was given the green light by the government.
Save Britain’s Heritage said national policy should consider the embedded carbon linked to a site when considering its future and prioritise reuse of historic buildings amid the climate crisis alongside issues such as preserving important architecture.
Embodied emissions from the demolition and construction of buildings equates to 40m to 50m tonnes of CO2 a year, more than emissions from aviation and shipping combined, according to Save.
Henrietta Billings, the director of Save, said: “These are big numbers that can be tackled. Rethinking our wasteful knock-it-down-and-start-again approach to development and reusing and updating existing buildings like M&S Oxford Street is a win-win. It’s good for the planet and it’s good for our towns and communities.
“No one is suggesting these buildings are pickled in aspic – it’s a pro-growth approach. Restored and transformed buildings have turbocharged regeneration all over the country, everywhere from Tate Modern in London to former department stores in Bournemouth, Bristol, Edinburgh and Gloucester.”
Simon Sturgis, the founder of Targeting Zero, a government adviser on sustainability, said the housing secretary Angela Rayner’s decision to approve M&S’s project to demolish and rebuild its Marble Arch store on London’s Oxford Street continued uncertainty over prioritising retrofits.
“As we approach net zero in 2050 it is inevitable that retrofit will become increasingly crucial in helping achieve government carbon and waste reduction targets,” he said.
However, M&S and some business groups have argued that radical redevelopment is necessary to create greener, more modern high streets.
Stuart Machin, the M&S chief executive, said on Thursday: “We can now get on with the job of helping to rejuvenate the UK’s premier shopping street through a flagship M&S store and office space, which will support 2,000 jobs and act as a global standard-bearer for sustainability.
“We share the government’s ambition to breathe the life back into our cities and towns and are pleased to see they are serious about getting Britain building and growing. We will now move as fast as we can.”
M&S wants to rebuild its Marble Arch store on London’s Oxford Street as a nine-storey building including retail space, a cafe, gym and offices.
The site is made up of three buildings, including Orchard House, which was constructed in the late 1920s on the corner of the UK’s most famous shopping street.
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M&S, which opened the store in 1930, applied to Westminster city council for permission to demolish its store in 2021.
The plans have been dogged by opposition from heritage and sustainability experts, culminating in the then housing secretary, Michael Gove, refusing the application last year.
Earlier this year, a high court judge ruled that the government made a series of flawed decisions while trying to block the plans.
On Thursday, Rayner granted permission for the building’s demolition and reconstruction.