I booked myself on to the Architecture Foundation’s tour of Norton Folgate in order to see what has been done in a site which has been one of the great battlegrounds of British conservation history.

To recap (a bit).  The site is on the northern edge of the City and was originally occupied by a monastery, the Priory and Hospital of St. Mary Spital.  It then became a Liberty until absorbed by the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1900.  In the late nineteenth century, much of the site was occupied by Nicholls & Clarke, a builders’ merchants, which sold the land to the City who encouraged British Land to redevelop it in the 1970s.  This development was fiercely resisted by a group which became the Spitalfields Trust, including John Betjeman, Mark Girouard and Dan Cruickshank.

More recently, there was another battle when British Land (again) acquired the site and planned to turn it into offices.  It was given planning permission by Boris Johnson as one of his last acts as Mayor.

The truth is that the development has been done with considerable care and sensitivity.  The masterplan was done by AHMM, but individual parts of the project were subcontracted to other practices including Stanton Williams and Morris & Company.  The Arts and Crafts building on Folgate Street has been renovated.  Some of the warehouses on Blossom Street have been retained.

It is too early to tell what it will feel like once the offices, shops and restaurants have been let.  At the moment, particularly on a Saturday morning, it is a touch lifeless, a bit like Blank Street Coffee, trying hard to belong to the neighbourhood, but not yet succeeding. 

Time will tell.  It’s certainly been done in a more sensitive way than much of the City.

This is Elder Street:-

This is the view west across Norton Folgate:-

And north towards the Bishopsgate goods yard (another battleground):-

This is Blossom Street:-

Maybe the most successful bit of the project is Blossom Yard:-