Tracey Emin Fights Planning Authority To Knock Down Listed Building

Tracey Emin

 The Turner Prize nominated artist Tracey Emin, best known for her ‘ Unmade Bed’ installation is at the center of a continuing planning row with Tower Hamlets council. This is the second YBA artist (See: Conservationists Tell Damien Hirst Swimming Pools And Art Don’t Mix) to have caught the attention of the press concerning the over-development of an artist’s personal home in the last week.

The controversial 52-year-old submitted plans to Tower Hamlets council last July for a five-floor super home in Spitalfields, London. The local authority has refused the current plans and the artist has appealed with a revision of the building changes. The new home would connect to her studio in Tenter Ground, a former weaving workshop built by Flemish refugees, which she purchased in 2008.

Ms Emin has applied to replace the building in Bell Lane with an oversized structure designed by the award winning architect David Chipperfield, the man behind the Turner Contemporary gallery, in Emin’s home-town of Margate. 

According to the proposed development, the total demolition of a listed building in Bell Lane would result in the loss of a non-designated heritage asset. Opponents to the plans have been outraged by the move, stating that historic buildings in the area were in danger of being lost forever. Save Britain’s Heritage director Clem Cecil revealed: ‘This is an extremely aggressive move on the part of applicant Tracey Emin and suggests that she wishes to force this through the planning process, whatever the opinion of the councillors, local people or preservation groups.’  

Tags

, ,