95ft air shaft at Crossrail station 'will tower over Georgian square'
Plans for a new Crossrail station entrance hall near one of Mayfair's smartest squares have been attacked by the Government's design watchdog.
Experts at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment describe the Bond Street station plans as "unsightly" and "inappropriate".
Their concerns centre on a 95ft tall ventilation shaft which will protrude from the roof of the building, clad in bronze-tinged aluminium.
The shaft will tower over the 18th-century townhouses in Hanover Square, which is home to the headquarters of Vogue magazine.
Cabe is happy with the modern design of the ticket hall itself - a series of columns interspersed with huge sheets of glass - but says that the design of the ventilation shaft is "unsightly and inappropriate in the context of the surrounding fine historic buildings. [Cabe does not] consider the metal cladding to be acceptable."
The residents' society of Mayfair and St James's also objects.
The entrance has been designed by leading architects John McAslan + Partners. It describes its proposals as simple and elegant and says the new station will be "world class".
Westminster council is expected to approve the plans next week.
The council will consider a separate application for a second Crossrail ticket office for its Bond Street station, at Davies Street, later in the year.
Currently 155,000 people use Bond Street station each day. Crossrail chiefs say that when the line is operational in 2018 that will rise to 225,000. As well as the new Crossrail line, Bond Street Tube station will undergo a £300million redevelopment to include a new entrance in Marylebone Lane.
Work has begun in Oxford Street, with parts of the road dug up to reinforce gas and water pipes, as well as electricity cables, before the main construction begins.
A spokeswoman for Crossrail said the shaft was only a temporary measure. Crossrail, together with Great Portland Estates, is planning a development of offices and shops on top of the Hanover Square station entrance which would hide the shaft from view.
