The Geffrye Museum, 136 Kingsland Road E2 8EA

2013/0048 /0052 /0053 - 14 April 2013

By Nick Perry

1. 2013/0048 Full Planning Permission - Erection of a new museum extension to the south of the site comprising new gallery and ancillary floorspace, connecting to the existing museum via the Branson Coates extension. Erection of a garden gallery walkway to the rear of the existing museum at gallery level, connecting through the existing Committee Room and chapel walkway and into the extended north pavilion and Branson Coates extension. Creation of a new museum entrance on Geffrye Street including new ramped access and new boundary treatment. Creation of a new activity garden and landscaping works to the existing period gardens. 
2. 2013/0052 Listed Building Consent - Various internal works to the existing museum including; widening of southern almshouse entrance, remodelling of offices in north and south wing, alternation to Branson Coates ramp, replacement lift in the Branson Coates extension, removal of solar shades, replacement of kitchen with WC and cloakroom, works to transform the existing restaurant into a reception space, remodelling of back of house space and creation of new stores, works to temporary exhibition gallery, remodelling of existing education spaces, extension to north pavilion for interface with garden gallery and new lift in north pavilion space. External works to include erection of an extension to the south of the site comprising new gallery and ancillary floorspace, connecting to the existing museum via the Branson Coates extension. Erection of a garden gallery walkway to the rear of the existing museum at gallery level, connecting through the existing Committee Room and chapel walkway and into the extended north pavilion and Branson Coates extension. Creation of a new museum entrance on Geffrye Street including new ramped access and new boundary treatment. Creation of a new activity garden and landscaping works to the existing period gardens.
3. 2013/0053 Conservation Area Consent - Demolition of No. 32 Cremer Street, demolition of the existing boundary wall on Cremer Street and at the southern end of Geffrye Street and Harwar wall.

FAO: Sade Olokodana

The Hackney Society Planning Group would support granting of permission where design of the corner site is reserved and other matters below are dealt with to the officers' satisfaction through discussion, revision or condition.

The Society has been involved in two rounds of pre-application consultation on the plans to extend the Geffrye Museum, in 2012. Although, and in retrospect regrettably, we had not been privy to the architectural design details until the application was validated. 

The Planning Group is broadly supported of the principles of the development, including the demolition of 32 Cremer Street (the former Marquis of Lansdowne PH).

We recognise that an enlarged museum offers an improved and more accessible public amenity to a much larger audience than the physical structure can currently accommodate. In particular, new visitors to the borough arriving on the extended London Overground.

The planning group members expressed, individually, a number of minor concerns which should be considered fully in arriving at a decision to grant consent:

• The proposed new entrance on Geffrye Street, coupled with the proposed gallery which is located on the same side of the building has the potential to hide the important front view of the alms house and it's magnificent front gardens from a whole generation of visitors arriving from Hoxton Station, as well as isolating them from the wider amenities on Kinglsand Road.
  
  
• The route of the elevated gallery through the fabric of the Committee Room both destroys some of the fabric of the original building, and turns the gallery into of an uninterrupted corridor which would encourage visitors to race through the monotonous tunnel in a functional manner, rather than consider the views out of it. This could be mitigated by both building around the Committee Room and introducing a number of articulated ‘incident bays’ which might incorporate information panels or exhibits.
  
  
• The 30% sedum roof coverage is only a token gesture to sustainability. Particularly in light of the volume of concrete being proposed in the construction.
  
  
• Self-coloured, in-situ cast concrete has, historically, not always provided an acceptable finish and performance. There is no long-term information on weathering characteristics. Stringent quality control against site reference samples to maintain quality and consistency, should be conditioned.
  
  
• The elevation didn’t robustly respond to the existing adjacent Cremer Street elevation and existing commercial buildings, with its significant drop in scale from 2.0 storey to 1.5 storey.

On the contentious issue of demolition consent for the former Marquis of Lansdowne, no members of the group were opposed to the demolition. The museum's use of the corner site would offer an improved public amenity that benefits a wide range of visitors and residents. We are particularly mindful of the fact that the public house fell out of use nearly two decades ago and almost nothing historically or architecturally valuable remains of it's interior. The context of the site has changed over the last half century and the character and viability of the local pub has been challenged.

Which is not to say the group would not also support a 'new' public house on the site, but it must be understood that such an amenity would not be of the character of the original pub and may, if insensitively constructed, result in a facadist folly. There is also an argument that a museum, in particular, could retain a facade for educational purposes, and integrate it into a modern build. But we are mindful of the fact The Geffrye is the museum of the home, not of the built environment, so to do so might serve no useful purpose other than conservation of an unremarkable frontage for conservation's sake.

However, demolition of the former PH must only granted if the detailed design of the replacement celebrates the corner location and provides strong views of it from the approaches on Geffrye and Cremer streets. We are not entirely convinced the final design, which is somewhat brutally minimal, does this. The roof slopes down to the level of the Branson Coates extension, but in doing so it lacks the weight it needs to respond to the streetscape of Cremer St and act as a corner pivot to the entrance and Hoxton Overground. 

We have, post submission, seen an earlier CGI view of a more sophisticated composition than the proposed arrangement which, if developed, may more clearly turn the corner.