I write in response to your news article entitled "Rogers' £150m Paddington office is put on ice" (10 January, page 15).
Our planning application for the Grand Union Building development is scheduled to be given final consideration by Westminster council's planning committee on 30 January. Chelsfield and our partners in the Paddington Basin scheme are committed to proceeding with our Grand Union Building plans. Assuming the proposals are granted planning consent, we fully expect to be in a position to start on site later this year.

We recognise that the office occupier market in central London (and the City in particular) has weakened and the supply of space has increased. However, Paddington remains a location in demand and we are confident that the quality of the Grand Union Building and the financial terms we can offer will attract tenants as we progress with our marketing campaign.

In the meantime, the development of Paddington Basin continues to move forward. We have placed building contracts for more than £10m of infrastructure works in the past few months. Later this month we will place a £40m building contract for a 240-unit residential building due to start on site in March – more than 50% of the units in this building have already been sold.

Postscript

Nick Roberts, Chelsfield, London W1.