City planners urged to approve 12-storey development drawn up by Eric Parry

Plans drawn up by Eric Parry Architects for developer Sellar to build a Thameside office block near London Bridge are set to win approval today.

The scheme for Seal House, next to the grade II* Fishmongers’ Hall, would replace a seven-storey 1970s block by William Holford & Partners with a new 12-storey block with a roof terrace. The current building is linked to Fishmongers’ Hall and the new scheme would provide a replacement link.

Parry’s Seal House proposals replace previous proposals for Sellar by David Chipperfield Architects. Chipperfield won planning permission for an 11-storey scheme for the site in 2009, tweaked because of an earlier knock-back because of the impact on views.

The latest scheme would deliver 19,658sq m of new space, the bulk of it office accommodation, along with a roof terrace, shop space and restaurants. The floorspace is more than double the 8,507sq m of GIA offered by the current building. Chipperfield’s approved proposals would have delivered 18,339sq m of new space.

Documents supporting the Parry proposals said Sellar, which is set to kick off work in earnest next month on Renzo Piano’s Cube building in Paddington, which will be built by Mace, had sought a scheme that was “better aligned to the City of London Thames river walkway activation policies and better enlivens the public realm surrounding the building”.

City of London planning officers are recommending Parry’s scheme for approval ahead of a meeting of the corporation’s Planning and Transformation Committee later this morning.