Residents say cinema complex looks like 'squashed strawberry'.
A development known respectively as the blob, the armadillo, the squashed strawberry and the spaceship has been given planning permission by Hammersmith and Fulham Council.
Around 200 people turned up to protest against the development, but it was approved despite their objections.
One reason given was because it is feared that Mayor Ken Livingstone could otherwise agree a larger development for the site at a later date.
The 12-storey building will include a four screen cinema, six restaurants, shops and 39,000 sq m of office space, in a building of up to 11 storeys.
It will be built on the site of the NCP Carpark, on the corner of Hammersmith Grove and Beadon Road.
Residents fear the development will dwarf the surrounding residential areas, including the newly-revamped Lyric Square and will cut across Beadon Road, increasing traffic congestion.
Richard Winterton, of Brackenbury Residents Association (BRA), said: “The development is too large: the single unrelieved mass of building is out of scale with the site surroundings, and would create an overbearing presence which would dominate and spoil the views in the area.
"The building will dwarf the Lyric Theatre – we will have not Lyric Square, more Blob Square.”
Councillors also expressed concerns over parking and traffic management, but the development was waved through six votes to three.
November 9, 2007