Tower Hamlets Town Hall

Tower Hamlets Town Hall is a municipal facility in a building known as Mulberry Place, in Nutmeg Lane, Poplar, London. It is the headquarters of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council.

Tower Hamlets Town Hall
Tower Hamlets Town Hall
LocationMulberry Place, Poplar
Coordinates51.5100°N 0.0062°W / 51.5100; -0.0062
Built1992
ArchitectSten Samuelson and the Beaton Thomas Partnership
Architectural style(s)Modernist style
Shown in Tower Hamlets

History

Mulberry Place

Following the local government re-organisation of 1965, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council initially based itself at Bethnal Green Town Hall.[1][2] In the early 1990s the council decided to move to modern accommodation in a more central location in the borough; the site selected formed part of a development by the Nordic Construction Company to regenerate the western part of the East India Import Dock.[3]

The new building originally formed part of a larger development of four linked blocks,[3] the other three forming a datacentre campus.[4] The development, which was designed by Sten Samuelson and the Beaton Thomas Partnership in the Modernist style, was built by Birse Construction and was completed in 1992.[3][5] The design made extensive use of reflective glazing and pink Sardinian granite.[3]

The name for the building designated for use by the council, Mulberry Place, was chosen to commemorate the construction of the Mulberry harbours in the dock during the Second World War.[6] The council moved into the building in summer 1993.[7][8] A mural by the staff and pupils of George Green's School entitled "Awakening", which depicts the reshaping of the east end by the development of London Docklands, was subsequently installed in the foyer.[9] In October 2018, the owner of the building, LaSalle Investment, which charges the council £5 million per year for the rental of Mulberry Place,[10] announced that it would convert the building into flats after the council leaves in 2022.[11]

Proposals for a Civic Centre

In February 2015 the council acquired the old Royal London Hospital, which had closed two years earlier, for £9 million and announced plans to convert it into a new "civic centre".[12][13] The original hospital, which had been designed by Boulton Mainwaring, had opened to staff and patients in September 1757.[14] Planning consent was given for the conversion scheme in March 2018.[15] The conversion works, which are being designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and undertaken by Bouygues at a cost of £109.5 million, are expected to be complete in 2022.[16] The design involves the retention of the old facade and the construction of three new buildings behind the facade arranged around a new public square.[16]

  • The old Royal London Hospital

References
  1. "No. 45244". The London Gazette. 4 December 1970. p. 13356.
  2. "London's Town Halls". Historic England. p. 178. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  3. Hobhouse, Hermione (1994). "'Modern Docklands: Gazetteer of modern non-housing developments', in Survey of London: Volumes 43 and 44, Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs". London: British History Online. pp. 707–724. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  4. "London Data Centre Campus". Global Switch. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  5. Cherry, Bridget; Bradley, Simon; O'Brien, Charles; Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus (2005). London: East. Yale University Press. p. 661. ISBN 978-0300107012.
  6. "Damaged buildings at the East India Docks, Blackwall". Port Cities. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  7. Hobhouse, Hermione (1994). "'Modern Docklands: Modern commercial developments', in Survey of London: Volumes 43 and 44, Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs". London: British History Online. pp. 702–707. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  8. "Architect sought for new Tower Hamlets town hall". Architects Journal. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  9. "Poplar". Exploring East London. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  10. "New Town Hall". Tower Hamlets London Borough Council. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  11. "Council 'powerless' to stop town hall being turned into flats". BD. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  12. "Old Royal London Hospital sold for £9m to Tower Hamlets council for a new town hall". Docklands and East London Advertiser. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  13. "Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman spends £9m turning old hospital into council 'palace'". Evening Standard. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  14. Historic England. "The London Hospital (1065788)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  15. "London's Tower Hamlets Council approves £100m civic centre". Construction Enquirer. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  16. "Bouygues starts Tower Hamlets town hall project". Construction Index. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
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