THE FORMER WHITECHAPEL BELL FOUNDRY, 32-34 WHITECHAPEL ROAD, 2 FIELDGATE STREET AND LAND TO THE REAR, WHITECHAPEL, LONDON BOROUGH OF TOWER HAMLETS
Client: London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Counsel: Alexander Booth KC
Project overview: Heritage expert witness on behalf of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in support of the proposals for conversion of the listed building at a call-in Inquiry. Proposals include a reinstated foundry, artists’ and creative workspace, as well as shop and educational facilities in the grade II* listed building. New hotel development on the adjacent land, including an unlisted 1980s bell frame workshop, all within the Whitechapel High Street Conservation Area.
The former bell foundry is a heritage asset of the highest significance. The building is associated with continuous bell-making for nearly 3 centuries and said to be the site of ‘Britain’s oldest manufacturing company’. It is a complicated building complex, taking in the domestic front range (c. 1740s and including a c. 1820 shopfront) and the industrial rear foundry and workshops (various dates). The case involved the consideration of matters including repairs to the listed building, design, use, and physical impacts, as well as impacts from the use, and the question of ‘optimum viable use‘.
