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Qataris select architects for Chelsea Barracks 'longlist'
Peter Dominiczak27.07.09
THE developers of the £3billion Chelsea Barracks scheme are set to announce a "longlist" of up to 15 architectural firms in the running to design plans for the site.
The site's owners said that nearly 50 architectural firms had approached them. The barracks site was sold for £959million last year to Project Blue (Guernsey), part of Qatari Diar.
However, the original steel and glass scheme by Lord Rogers was abandoned last month after Prince Charles told a representative of the Qatari royals that he would prefer a classical design.
The plans were withdrawn one week before they were due to go before Westminster council, despite £30 million having been spent on them and two and a half years of consultation. The scheme was to include 548 flats, a hotel, two restaurants and a sports centre. More than 450 residents had lodged objections about the scale and style of the proposals. The developers said today that they had been overwhelmed by submissions from architects despite calls by Labour MP Ken Purchase for the profession to boycott it.
A spokesman for Project Blue (Guernsey) said: "Qatari Diar should announce who is on the long-list in the next week The long-list will be shortened to three in late September and those firms will submit detailed ideas and from those, one masterplanner will be selected."
The spokesman refused to say whether Lord Rogers or Quinlan Terry - who was recommended by Prince Charles - was on the long-list, however a source close to the project said that he would be "very surprised" if they were.
Prince Charles's Foundation for the Built Environment will act as consultants on the choice of new planners.
Firms thought to be in the running include Demetri Porphyrios, which is working on the King's Cross site, and SOM, which designed several towers in Canary Wharf.
