How the M&S could look

GRIFF Rhys Jones branded Marks & Spencer’s plans to demolish its flagship building “absurd” and “short-sighted” as a battle for an Oxford Street inquiry got under way.

The TV funnyman backed a campaign to save the building at a Planning Inspectorate hearing yesterday (Thursday).

M&S has threatened to leave Oxford Street if its demolition plans do not go ahead and have won support from other major West End retailers including Selfridges. But heritage groups have told the two-week inquiry M&S should be more “dedicated to sustainability” and the 90-year-old store should not be torn down.

Mr Rhys Jones, backing Save Britain’s Heritage campaign, said: “I’ve been there, shopped there and would venture that M&S are not using the space in a very imaginative way compared to the possibilities old buildings offer. The idea that you can only sell clothes in a modern building doesn’t hold water. I wonder if M&S’s ‘unsuitability’ claim has more to do with the desire to create a much bigger floor space and offices. I can’t subscribe to that argument. It renders itself absurd. You can’t destroy a heritage asset to improve another. Recycling good historic buildings should be at the heart of policy. It is disappointingly short-sighted that they have dismissed this opportunity out of hand.”

SAVE has launched a fighting fund and 5,000 people have signed a petition against demolition.

Architect Julia Barfield, designer of the London Eye and the Cambridge Mosque, said M&S risked “throwing a huge carbon bomb unnecessarily into the atmosphere”.

SAVE’s lawyer Matthew Fraser told the inquiry: “Despite claiming that sustainability is at the core of their brand and committing to being a net-zero business by 2040, M&S have dismissed the creative refurbishment alternative to such an extent that they have made a threat to… leave Orchard House altogether if they do not get their way”.

Former communities secretary Michael Gove announced the inquiry following opposition to the plan. It had been approved by the city council and the GLA. Mr Gove’s decision to “call in” the Pilbrow and Partners scheme provoked outrage.

A spokesperson for Selfridges, which was bought out by the Thai conglomerate Central Group and the Austrian real estate company Signa Holding last month, said the historic department store “supports and endorses” the redevelopment of its neighbour, adding it has a role in “maintaining Oxford Street as the UK’s national shop window”. The comments came in a letter to the inquiry, at which consideration of the carbon footprint of the redevelopment of a major building will be centre stage for the first time.

West End ward Labour Cllr Jessica Toale has also backed the campaign to save the building, saying it is “well-loved by the community” and environmental impacts of demolition would be “considerable”.

M&S argues refurbishment of the three poorly connected and low-ceiling-ed buildings that make up its Marble Arch store is unfeasible. It said the new development will use a quarter of the current building’s energy, achieving a pay-back on investment in the first 17 years of its 100-plus year lifespan.

Russell Harris KC, for M&S, said there was “no heritage reason” against the plan. “Any heritage harm will be significantly outweighed by the benefits,” he said.