Boxpark set to expand after getting the nod from planners – but must keep noise in check

What Boxpark Shoreditch’s roof garden could look like. Image: Brinkworth

A Shoreditch shopping destination housed in shipping containers has been told it can expand – but it must keep a lid on any noise that could annoy neighbours.

Boxpark asked for permission to add another row of large crates with space for shops, bars and restaurants, and more seating areas.

It is expecting a 60 per cent increase in the number of visitors.

The venue wanted temporary planning permission until May 2023, when the site will be redeveloped into housing, offices and leisure venues.

Conditions would restrict the volume of any music, and introduce rules preventing deliveries before 11am and glass bottles being tipped into bins after 11pm.

There will also be a dispersal policy to ensure people leave quietly.

The council’s planning officer said “the proposed development clearly has an increased risk of noise and anti-social behaviour”.

He said the permission was for a short time and planners would have to assess whether any harm would come from the increased space, while weighing up 52 objections from residents.

“It’s a fine balance that has to be reached,” he said.

Town planner Gallina Fomina from Norton Taylor Nunn Ltd, acting for residents living opposite Boxpark, said there are “unresolved issues of noise which have bothered residents for 10 years”.

She said the scale of the development is “unacceptable” and called for acoustic screening to prevent loud music disturbing residents.

She added that there are “concerns about nearby residents’ physical and mental health”.

Jonathan Moberly, chair of Weavers ward safer neighbourhoods panel and vice-chair of the Boundary estate residents’ association, is concerned that the venue’s capacity would “more than double”.

He said customers leave Boxpark after it closes at midnight and go on elsewhere in Shoreditch, describing how some revellers continue the party in the Boundary estate, making life “insufferable”.

He said noise in Shoreditch is already unacceptable.

Ward councillor Anya Sizer said 52 residents lodged concerns, and she fears “the intensification of use could increase anti-social behaviour and criminal behaviour”.

She recently spoke to a family who claimed their mental health had suffered from living near the venue.

Matthew McMillan, Boxpark’s head of development, said the site generates £20m investment in the area annually and the plan aims to provide more seats for customers.

He added: “We’re not trying to intensify the site but provide additional seating.”

McMillan said Boxpark has dealt with noise issues by reinforcing a roof and working on its dispersal policy.

He said the venue will use a covered roof if necessary.

“We want to be great neighbours,” he added.

He said he was “really upset” at  hearing what had happened on the Boundary estate “but it is not generated by our venue”.

He offered to add more conditions in its dispersal area to prevent people leaving through the estate.

Hackney’s planning committee approved the scheme.