Design, Access, & Heritage Statement Royal Albert Hall: Busts 9435 / Rev A00 July 2021 Document Control Revision Description Originator Approved Date Application for Planning Permission & Listed A00 Feilden+Mawson LLP ALR 08/07/2021 Building Consent Feilden+Mawson LLP 21-27 Lambs Conduit Street London WC1N 3NL Tel: 020 7841 1980 www.feildenandmawson.com 2 of 28 Feilden+Mawson Royal Albert Hall: Busts | Rev A00 | July 2021 Contents 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 Site Assessment & Context 5 2.1 Location & Legal Designations 5 2.2 Planning Policy 6 2.3 Historic Context 8 3.0 Proposals 10 3.1 The Brief 10 3.1 North Porch 12 3.2 South Porch 15 4.0 Heritage Impact Assessment 20 4.1 Significance Assessment 20 4.2 Impact of Proposals 20 Appendices A: Listing Description 22 B: Pre-Application Advice from WCC 23 C: London Stone Carving, Design Statement 24 D: Poppy Field, Design Statement 26 Feilden+Mawson Royal Albert Hall: Busts | Rev A00 | July 2021 3 of 28 1.0 INTRODUCTION This design, access & heritage statement sets out proposals for new busts to the empty external niches to the North and South Porches of the Royal Albert Hall to coincide with its 150th anniversary in 2021. The Hall was constructed in 1867-71 and designed by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Scott. It is Grade I listed, designated in 1958 and forms part of the Knightsbridge Conservation Area. The new busts are proposed to be installed to the twin niches to the North and South Porches. To the North Porch stone busts of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert will face Kensington Gore and the Albert Memorial within Hyde Park, while to the south bronze busts of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip will face the Queen Elizabeth II Steps leading down to Prince Consort Road. The Hall worked with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust View from Kensington Gore, with the norch porch to the centre to find suitable sculptor artists from amongst their Scholars. A shortlist of seven was invited to participate in a design competition, from which two designs were selected – Poppy Field for the South Porch figures of Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip, and Josh Locksmith and Tom Brown of London Stone Carving for the North Porch figures of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The proposals will require planning permission for the external installation of the busts within prominent positions in the setting of the Conservation Area. Listed Building Consent will be required for the physical attachment to the terracotta niches as well as the impact on the setting of the Grade I listed building. Niche lighting is included within this application, with proposals for post lighting to the face of the busts to follow in a separate application. A pre-application was submitted in April 2021 for the proposals with Westminster City Council (Ref. P21-00319), with the response appended to this report. View from Prince Consort Road, with the south porch to the centre 4 of 28 Feilden+Mawson Royal Albert Hall: Busts | Rev A00 | July 2021 2.0 SITE ASSESSMENT & CONTEXT 2.1 Location & Legal Designations The Hall is listed at Grade I, designating it to be of ‘exceptional Kensington Gardens interest’ and part of just 2.5% of the total number of listed Grade I listed Park/Garden buildings in the UK. The list entry was amended in 2018 as part of the centenary commemorations of the 1918 Representation of the People Act. The curtilage of the Hall extends to the surrounding steps, ramps and the outer threshold of the four porches. Albert Memorial The Royal Albert Hall is located on Kensington Gore to the 1862-75; Grade I south of Kensington Gardens. To the north it faces the Albert Memorial of 1862-75, listed at Grade I, within Kensington Gardens, a Grade I registered Park/Garden. To the south, the Hall faces the Queen Elizabeth II steps to the southern part of the Memorial to the 1851 Exhibition, listed at Grade II, leading down to Prince Consort Road. To the west is the Royal College Kensington Gore of Art, the Royal College of Organists, and Queen Alexandra’s House, and to the east sits Albert Hall Mansions, and Albert Knightsbridge Court to the southeast, all Grade II listed. Conservation Area Exhibition Road Queen’s Gate The site sits to the west of the Knightsbridge Conservation RAH Area, first designated in 1968 by the City of Westminster and extended in 1978. Two locally designated Metropolitan Views look onto the Hall, looking south from the Albert Memorial and looking north from the Royal College of Music on Prince Consort Road, both of which are relevant to the proposals. The Hall’s freehold is held by the 1851 Royal Commission for the Exhibition, who own a number of buildings within Prince Consort Road Albertopolis. The surrounding pavements are owned by Westminster City Council. Statutory Designations Diagram - Site of the Royal Albert Hall KEY Grade I Grade II Protected Park Metropolitan View Conservation Area Local View Grade II* Feilden+Mawson Royal Albert Hall: Busts | Rev A00 | July 2021 5 of 28 2.2 Planning Policy Westminster City Council additionally have a specialist advisory NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework) The Hall forms part of one of London’s Strategic Cultural board, the Public Art Advisory Panel (PAAP), which exists to Relevant to the proposals for new busts is section 16, paras Areas earmarked in the London Plan – the South Kensington advise the Planning Committee on the artistic merit, siting, 184-202, of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) Museum Complex/Royal Albert Hall (Policy 4.5Af). This aims setting, and appropriateness of all new public art proposals 2019, which is concerned with the conservation of the historic to identify, protect and seek to enhance significant clusters of in Westminster. Any proposal for a new statue or monument environment, which stresses the importance of conserving and such cultural institutions and their settings. should be submitted for consideration by the panel before enhancing heritage assets. a planning application is made. Proposals will usually be Westminster’s City Plan & Strategic Objectives presented to the PAAP at an early stage, before the design The setting of a heritage asset is described as implicit in its The City of Westminster covers a broad area of the historic is finalised, for agreement on principles such as materials, significance (para 189), with any development within that centre of London, to the southwest of which the Knightsbridge location, form, and artist selection. Once a finalised design has setting capable of impacting on that significance and requiring Conservation Area sits. The Royal Albert Hall is highly been produced the panel should be given the opportunity to clear and convincing justification (para 194). Harm to the significant within this designation, and the external form is comment on this. significance of a designated heritage asset deemed to be less significant in the townscape of the environs. than substantial should be weighed against the public benefits Conservation Principles, Policies & Guidance of the proposal (para 196). The proposals endeavour to follow Westminster’s City Plan Assessment of significance and heritage values seeks to align 2019-2040, published in April 2021. There is an emphasis on with the policies and guidance set out in Historic England’s High quality design, including public art, is also a key designing to ensure that the historic character and integrity of Conservation Principles, published in 2008. The guidance consideration of section 12, noting good design as a key Westminster’s built fabric and place is protected and enhanced classifies and describes heritage values, identifying Evidential aspect of sustainable development (para 124). Development (2). value (35-38), Historical value (39-45), Aesthetic value (46- should add to the overall quality of the area, and be 53) and Communal value (54-60) as contributing to an overall sympathetic to local character and history (para 127). Design The Westminster City Plan places great importance on the understanding of heritage significance. development should involve early discussion between preservation of its built heritage, reflected in Policy 39 which applicants, the local planning authority and local community addresses amongst other issues the conservation of heritage The particular policy relevant to the proposals is of New Work about the design and style of emerging schemes (para 128). assets, including their settings. Specific policies also pertain to and Alterations (138-148). This requires proposals to aspire the Visitor Economy (15) and Design (38) involving excellence to quality of design and execution which may be valued now The London Plan in design quality and the use of high quality durable materials, and, in the future, without material harm to the heritage values The London Plan, published by the Mayor of London in as well as a Strategic Culture Area for Knightsbridge with the of a place, instead where appropriate seeking to reinforce 2016, contains specific policies associated with the historic Royal Albert Hall within it. or further reveal these (138). This highlights that quality of environment, with heritage assets to eb conserved, restored design, materials, detailing and execution is obviously essential and reused where appropriate. The building’s heritage, listed Additional Planning Guidance Documents Consulted in places of established value (139). It further states that small status and setting within the Conservation Area warrants Conservation Area Audit: Knightsbridge, 2009 changes require as much consideration as larger changes, with careful consideration towards the proposals being ‘sympathetic Design Matters in Westminster SPG, 2001 a clear and coherent relationship of all the parts to the whole to … form, scale, materials, and architectural detail’ (Policy 7.8). Development and Demolition in Conservation Areas SPG, as essential (140).