LONDON MAYOR INTERVENES TO APPROVE HIGH-RISE HOTEL

London Mayor Sadiq Khan overturned the local council’s refusal to grant permission for a new hotel in Kensington, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat reports. Khan approved SimpsonHaugh’s plan for the demolition of Kensington Forum, a 1970s building currently operating as a Holiday Inn, and new construction at the site of the Brutalist Richard Seifert-designed hotel. The new building will include 749 rooms, a spa, bars, restaurants, conference facilities and housing. After the mayor’s intervention, the tower will have 62 homes with “affordable” rent, as opposed to the original 42 that were planned. The existing building is the second-tallest in the borough, and residents argue the new plan would replace one out-of-place monstrosity with a bigger one.