CABE Gives Eileen House A Guarded Thumbs Up

The Commission for Architecture and Built Environment (CABE) has welcomed Allies and Morrison's design for a new residential tower in London's Elephant and Castle describing its position as "broadly supportive".

CABE praised the architecture as "intelligent and high quality" however they reserved some criticism for the area in and around the scheme, specifically how the planned public areas at ground level are designed and managed.

Most specifically they felt there would be an excessive amount of shading from the buildings of the planned garden and struggled to understand why a garden which was intended for residents also had a public route through it - such shared spaces it seems are out.

CABE also disliked the green wall that Allies and Morrison included in the design because it would be needed to be looked after on a weekly basis. Some may find though this shows more that CABE like no fuss and disposable architecture and seem to have more stringent ideas for green walls to traditional gardens which also need looking after week on week.

CABE is well known however for being an extremely tough body to please so such a small number of criticisms shows that they do rather like the design. The 134 metre tall tower has been planned for Oakmayne Properties but is working its way through the system and still has to receive full planning permission.