Council appeals against its own planning application
LIKE many councils, Medway in Kent is trying to go green by installing panels on the roof of its 1970s office building.
But its plans face a roadblock after the application was recommended for refusal by its own planning officers.
Introducing a “modern, incongruous” feature to the roof would look “out of character” on the Grade Ii-listed concrete and brick building in Chatham, officers said. The decision was spotted by a local reporter, Ed Jennings, who described the situation as “absolutely phenomenal”.
The council office, known as Gun Wharf, dates from the late 1970s and was originally built by architects Arup Associates as a headquarters for insurance market Lloyds of London.
The council’s planning committee is due to consider the application next week, where councillors can decide to ignore the recommendation.
Stuart Tranter, councillor for Rochester West, who sits on the planning committee but will not be attending the meeting where this decision is made, said it was a “matter of personal opinion”.
“It is considered to be a fine example of its type from that period,” he said. “Members may decide that on balance, bearing in mind the environmental concerns, that it is in everyone’s interest to overturn the officer’s recommendations and allow this to go ahead.
“It’s a 1970s building, it’s not like we’re trying to do this to a 19th-century building. It is personally my hope that they will reach that conclusion.”
Historic England raised concerns about the solar panels application, documents show, warning that the reflective solar panels would be “at odds with the carefully selected muted roof finishes that characterise the building’s architecture.”
“The panels could also harm an appreciation of the strong sense of horizontality, which is in part emphasised by the use of continuous single roof material and is an important part of its architectural effect,” its report said, suggesting that panels are instead installed on less visible roofs.
The building, on the banks of the Medway, was listed Grade II in 2015 as part of an English Heritage project to recognise commercial buildings built between 1964 to 1984.
At the time, Veronica Fiorato, head of English Heritage in the South, said the modernist building was “a complete, integrated work of architecture which maximises natural light as well as views of the surrounding river, gardens and courtyards.”