Following the public furore over the proposed demolition of 154-158 the Strand and façading of 152-153, by King’s College, Burrell Foley Fischer were appointed by Save Britain’s Heritage to propose alternative solution. John Burrell suggested it opens an opportunity to create a magnificent new piece of public realm for the capital halfway along the great processional route to and from Westminster and Buckingham Palace to St Paul’s Cathedral and the City. 

This streetscape has already been damaged by King’s College’s Brutalist building to the east of Somerset House. This is built on the site of at least a dozen similar buildings that were demolished for the new development. The character of central London depends on a balance between large institutional and commercial buildings and smaller scale buildings on narrow plots.

Creating a new entrance aligned on the portico of St Mary-le-Strand would open up one of the great lost views of London through to one of the arched bridges over the Thames designed by Sir William Chambers. The vista would be a delight in both directions and the once threatened buildings would enjoy a new lease of life embellishing the Strand, the nation’s main processional route.

John Burrell also proposed to turn the whole of the south of the Aldwych into a pedestrian precinct, envisioned to be even more impressive and extraordinary than that created by the closing of the road in front of the National Gallery. Pedestrianising this part of the Strand would mean that Gibbs’s wonderful church, St Mary-le-Strand is no longer marooned on a traffic island, but becomes the focal point of a splendid new public space. Both Somerset House and King’s College will gain a spacious new setting - the most beautiful new public realm in the capital for years.

These proposals were adopted by Westminster City Council and this area has now been pedestrianised. The transformation allows some of London’s finest Georgian buildings to be fully enjoyed for the first time in more than a generation. An area that was once part of a multi-lane gyratory, characterised by traffic fumes and pedestrians hurrying along narrow pavements, is now an attractive destination for meeting, strolling and lingering over a coffee or al fresco meal.