Office-led scheme signed off with design changes following two deferrals over height policy breachMakes revised designs for the Chiswell Street scheme, showing how the top storey has been set backIslington council has finally approved Makes plans to redevelop a 1980s office block near the Barbican after twice deferring the decision over a breach in local height policy.The scheme for Berkeley Estate Asset Management (BEAM) was presented at two consecutive planning committees in November and December but knocked back on both occasions by requests from councillors for design amendments.It has now been signed off after Make substantially reduced the massing of the buildings top floor, which is two storeys above the local seven-storey height limit, to reduce its visual appearance.Comparison of submitted and revised designs for the buildingThe developer has also agreed to pay the council 2.9m towards providing off-site affordable workspace in place of original plans to provide affordable workspace in the basement, which was considered by councillors to be unacceptable.The nine-storey proposals for the site at 48 Chiswell Street would see the partial demolition and refurbishment of a post-modern office block on the City fringe and the addition of two storeys at roof.A prominent pentagonal entrance tower at the corner of the 1987 building will also be removed, its facades will be replaced and internal layouts rearranged to provide more natural light.The existing 1987 office building on the siteAn existing entrance tower will be removed1/2show captionPlanning committee chair Martin Klute said in the hearing: Im very pleased that we have managed to get some reshaping of the top two floors, and the applicant has found a way to do it quite effectively from an engineering perspective, so thats probably a better outcome than they were expecting.Councillors had asked for Make to remove the schemes top floor following the applications first committee hearing in November. However, planning officers concluded design amendments setting back the top storey by 3.4m had sufficiently reduced its visual impact on the surrounding townscape and the Chiswell Street conservation area.BEAM previously argued that the schemes height policy breach was mitigated by the inclusion of affordable workspace in the basement, which had been strongly criticised by councillors and described by Klute as tenuous.The project team includes cost consultant Turner & Townsend Alinea, project manager Blackburn, structural engineer Elliott Wood, planning consultant Gerald Eve and landscape architect Townshends.Makes original plans for the site