Designs recently put to consultation by the practice and developer Great Portland Estates show scaled-back proposals for the site at 4-26 St Thomas Street.The planning inspector previously refused two earlier designs by AHMM for the same developer one featuring a 37-storey tower and the other a 26-storey tower.Orms emerging proposals, instead, add five storeys to the existing 1980s office building, creating a nine-storey office with 17,000m of commercial floorspace 9,000m more than currently on the site.AdvertisementTwo existing listed Georgian townhouses on St Thomas Street will be restored under the scheme while a 1980s office at the rear of the site will be partly demolished and retrofitted.In consultation documents, Orms adds that the scheme reuses a majority of the existing building structure, with the Georgian terraces earmarked for 900m of affordable workspace catering to SMEs and community groups.A scoping opinion was submitted last month (8 January) for the scheme, which replaces AHMM's two designs for the plot formerly known as New City Court.AHMM first submitted plans to Southwark Council in 2018 for a 37-storey tower. Subsequently, the practice submitted a second shorter scheme in April 2021 after concerns were raised over its height.But the council failed to make a decision on whether it should go ahead and Great Portland Estates took both planning applications to appeal.AdvertisementIn September 2023, then communities secretary Michael Gove backed the planning inspectors rejection of both proposals, stating that they would harm the historic surroundings.The decision notice said Gove had given significant weight to the harms to townscape character and appearance and noted the potential loss of daylight and sunlight to neighbouring blocks.Orms and Great Portland are expected to submit a full planning application soon.