Heritage harm: a building too big for its setting

The removal of the basement, Historic England found, “brings other instances of harm, as it puts considerable pressure on the surrounding buildings forming Bath Court. The building feels too big, overdominant on this space, particularly in its relationship with the south range of First Court and the Bodley Library.” The increased height towards Christ’s Lane “feels quite large when seen alongside the relatively modest elevations of the college.”

On the proposal overall: “we are of the view that the building is too big for its location.” The wall lifted to turret level at the Bodley corner “feels more overbearing in its relationship with the Bodley and evidences the difficulties to accommodate a building which is too large for what is a very domestic setting.” The prominence of the chapel turret “should remain unchallenged.”

The conclusion tied the harm directly to the size: the proposals “would result in certain levels of harm to the significance of the listed building, primarily as a result of the excessive bulk of the new building, which we consider would detract from the setting of the surrounding buildings. The proposals would be bulkier than those that were previously granted consent.” Historic England “would strongly encourage that massing is further reduced so it sits better within this context.”

The Government’s own heritage adviser found that a building “too big for its location” harms the significance of the Grade I college “primarily as a result of [its] excessive bulk,” and asked for the massing to be reduced. The College reduced the chimneys by 90 cm and left the building otherwise intact, so that Historic England’s second letter could only record that “the overall massing of the building remains unchanged.” The harm it identified remains unchanged with it, and the College now presents that same bulk as causing no harm at all.

Read Historic England’s first advice (29 July 2025) and its second advice (1 September 2025).

The Victorian Society, a statutory consultee, headed its principal concern “The Dominant Scale in Comparison to the Bodley Library.” The building steps back about one metre but stands a whole storey higher, and that height “has the greater potential to be harmful to the setting of the Bodley Library than the proximity of the floor plan.” The 2016 basement scheme “would not be overtly harmful… as the newly proposed scheme has the potential to be.”

On the mass, the building “appears to lack the ‘human scale’ evocative both in the Bodley Library and the C15 first court.” Its elevations “appear starkly unrelieved,” and its upper storeys “overly impose themselves on the front elevation… increasing the sense of excessive scale.” The clear views of the Bodley gable and turret staircase against sky “would be overwhelmed by the proposed building.” Its recommendation was to align the floors with the Bodley’s oriel window, “thus reducing the height by approximately half at each floor.”

The Society found that the “dominant scale” and “ill-proportioned massing” harm the setting of the Grade I Bodley Library and rob the building of the “human scale” of its neighbours, and offered to cure that harm by halving the floor heights. The College did neither: it resubmitted the identical scheme and rebranded its impact as beneficial. The Society’s reply disposes of that in a line, the reversal is “unjustified and contrary to the applicant’s own previous assessment,” because “the same submitted scheme cannot improve its level of harm.”

Read the Victorian Society’s advice (August 2025).

The proposal is “substantially larger above ground level than both the existing building and the previously consented scheme.” It “introduces a scale of development that is out of keeping with its context” and is “a damaging overdevelopment of the site.” On Historic England’s wording, Forshaw adds: “I would say ‘too large’ rather than ‘quite large’.”

The harm falls on four assets. At the Bodley Library, the gable silhouette against clear sky “will be radically changed,” the staircase tower’s geometry “conflicts starkly with the sloping gable end and the splayed and crenelated staircase turret,” and the new parapet is “higher indeed than the staircase turret that it adjoins.” On Christ’s Lane, the chimneys are “bulky and monolithic structures, rather industrial in character,” rising “14 metres sheer from pavement level” on a lane about 6 metres wide, coalescing into “an overpowering mass of masonry… which will overwhelm the townscape.” Within the college hierarchy, even reduced, the chimneys “will be as tall as the Gatehouse towers, and almost as high as the landmark cupola of the Hall, creating a presence… that is grossly disproportionate.” In Bath Court, the mass “will loom over Bath Court, cutting out much of the existing daylight and sunlight… and will have an over-bearing impact on the character and appearance of Bath Court.”

Forshaw found that one oversized building, “a damaging overdevelopment of the site,” inflicts harm on the Bodley Library, Christ’s Lane, First Court and Bath Court at once, an “overpowering mass of masonry” that is “grossly disproportionate” to the college. He assessed the cumulative effect as “within the middle range of less-than-substantial harm to several designated heritage assets of the very highest significance,” harm not outweighed by public benefit, and avoidable, since the Create Streets basement alternative delivers the same capacity within three storeys above pavement level. In his conclusion the scheme should not be approved in its current form.

Read Alec Forshaw’s full appraisal.

Three independent authorities examined this building, the Government’s own heritage adviser, a statutory consultee, and an independent expert of fifty years’ standing.

All three found the same thing: harm to Grade I heritage, caused by a building that is “too big,” “overdominant,” an “overpowering mass of masonry” that is “grossly disproportionate.”