Save 101 Whitechapel High Street

We strongly object to plans for an office block up to 18 storeys tall which threatens to stamp on Whitechapel High Street.  

It would cast the Canon Barnett School into shadow and tower over the playground, harming pupils’ health and wellbeing and invading the school’s privacy. 

It would cause a drastic loss of light for nearby residents. 

A building of this scale, outside a Tall Building Zone, would tear though the Whitechapel High Street Conservation Area and the valuable character of the historic East End. Only the facades of these characterful Victorian and Edwardian buildings would survive demolition, reducing them to the wallpaper of an overscaled office block. 

There has been strong local and national opposition to the plans, with 300 objections including from parents, residents, the Whitechapel Gallery, Toynbee Hall, the East End Preservation Society and national heritage groups. Despite this, Tower Hamlets Strategic Development Committee voted that they are minded to grant permission for the scheme on 15 January 2025.  

We call on the Mayor of London to do the right thing and use your statutory powers to direct refusal of this application by the Local Planning Authority, or to take over the application and refuse it yourself, in line with Tower Hamlets’ planning officer’s recommendation. 

It’s time to listen to the community, refuse this scheme and find a better way forward for Whitechapel and its conservation area.