So, Renzo Piano’s stumpy cigarette is almost open. Aflame, maybe. Lit. It’s actually called the Paddington Cube, but it’s almost ready to go. This beautiful 18-storey, cube-shaped redevelopment next to Paddington Station, designed by Shard architect Piano, had originally been given a late 2021 target date for practical completion when it was approved in 2017. Because of Covid, and the unhelpful collapse of the development’s M&E (mechanical and electrical services) contractor Michael J Lonsdale (owing creditors £65 million), it is way overdue, although no less anticipated.
The £350 million Paddington Square project has endured a troubled development process since it was first proposed in 2015 as a highly controversial 65-storey, 224m-tall cylindrical tower dubbed the “Paddington Pole”. The original plans were withdrawn amid huge protests from locals and campaign groups due to its location next to Brunel’s Grade I listed station. Consequently, the scheme was eventually chopped down to 18 floors, flipped from residential use to commercial, and redesigned as a “floating” cube in 2016.
When it was first proposed, locals (including me) started calling it the Paddington Cigarette, hence our most recent sobriquet. We all thought it was too high, but figured the original plans were so dramatic they were designed purely in order to achieve a compromise. However, even though what we’ve ended up with is a lot better than the original building, apparently the initial idea was actually to create a west London Shard. As it is, everyone I speak to in the area loves the new build. Piano himself says that he wants the public to imagine a hovering building as they leave the station, and regardless, it’s certainly going to be better than staring at an outpost of Garfunkel’s.
The Cube is not fully open and yet it is already having a huge effect on the area
The project was developed by James Sellar, the son of the London developer Irvine (the man who for years controlled Carnaby Street), and it is about to become globally famous.
“This is top corporate modernist architecture,” says David Rosen, a partner in Pilcher Hershman. “It’s what happens when a great developer commissions a world-renowned architect, and it’s a wonderful thing. We are lucky to have it.”
We are. While the city is full of people decrying gentrification — we even have a few in Paddington — the general swirl of improvement tends to have a positive effect, at least it does these days. The mistakes of the past are so present — the destruction of the Euston Arch should always be foregrounded whenever anyone suggests destroying an old building — that developers tend to treat these projects as loss leaders rather than cash cows. Just look at King’s Cross or Battersea Power Station. They might not be perfect, but the levels of ambition are higher than they have ever been. Close by, Paddington Basin is an example of successful urban gentrification where public spaces sit happily next to residential development, without having destroyed the area’s IP.
I travel in and out of Paddington on most days, and the emergence of the Cube has been like watching the protracted birth of a butterfly. It’s not fully open, and yet it is already having a transformative effect on the area. And there’s more to come: the new entrance to the Bakerloo line is being provided as part of the redevelopment of the former postal sorting office that used to stand next to the mainline station’s primary pedestrian (and former taxi) entrance.
When it’s up and running, there will be 50,000 square metres of offices development, a rich mix of restaurants and shops (over 40, including middle-class stalwarts like Wahaca, Gail’s and Kate Spade), artworks by Catherine Yass, Pae White, Showroom and Ugo Rondinone, and a halo effect that will cast Paddington in a very different light.
Let’s face it, the area needs it. Praed Street needs the mother of all overhauls, zoning has created a warren of cheap (and often dodgy) hotels, and some of the local restaurants rival those on the old south side of Euston Road. There are plans afoot to address all of this, and not before time. All we need is a money miracle to drop from the skies in order to rebuild St Mary’s Hospital. Are there any private benefactors reading this who’d like to do that?
