Don't butcher Smithfield

As seen from Holborn Viaduct, the General Market Building responds subtly to the topography of the area, creating an animated and interesting skyline. Note also the low lying nature of the area.

Sir Horsace Jones' elegant and finely detailed corner of the General Market Building

The proposed new development on the site of the current General Market

The future of Smithfield Market, probably the finest group of market buildings in the country, is in the balance.

The General Market buildings, located in a high value area of London, face the immediate threat of demolition at the behest of their owner, the Corporation of London, and replacement with office blocks. (There is currently 2.5 million square feet of empty office space within a mile of the market and a further 22.5 million square feet lying vacant across London.)

The Meat Market is currently subject to a consultation exercise, a possible outcome of which could be its removal from central London. This threat, which is very real, may not materialise for another 10 years when the tenants' leases expire, but will increasingly cast a blight on the area. One of the key factors in this is an alleged lack of space, despite the empty General Market buildings, which are SAVE's immediate concern.

The focus is therefore on the General Market buildings at the westernmost end of the market complex, fronting Farringdon Road and Snow Hill. These were recently described to SAVE by the City of London's Surveyor as 'rather cheap and nasty' and that they could do rather better for the area by knocking them down and starting again. SAVE strongly disagrees. The Corporation has recently leased the buildings to Thornfield Properties PLC for their redevelopment. Thornfield is backed by US bank Lehman Brothers and HBOS (Halifax / Bank of Scotland).

The General Market buildings comprise three blocks - the General Market, the Annex (formerly the fish market), both by Horace Jones, which is joined to the 'Red House' (a cold store) and finally the diminutive lavatory block, possible also by Jones.

These buildings are high quality buildings by a pre-eminent Victorian architect. They are key buildings in the Smithfield conservation area and should be listed. They form a part of enclave of historic buildings unlike any other in the City, retaining a powerful historic and architectural sense of place. They are capable of reuse with minimal intervention, and are potentially a huge asset to this part of the City, yet they lie purposely disused and without maintenance.

The scandal of the situation is that viable schemes for the reuse of the buildings exist - a study was commissioned by the Corporation of London, which owns the buildings. The study set out the way in which this could be done to the benefit of the entire area, but it was not taken up. SAVE also approached the Corporation with several viable suggestions, only to be rebuffed. So far the Corporation has set the agenda.

It is time to change it!

There have now been proposals for the site published and as predicted, the scheme is for a new office development in an area already saturated with commercial properties.