• THANK you for your report on the planning application for the proposed demolition of Selkirk House to build new a new office building, (Climate change is ‘most powerful’ case against tower block demolition, News, April 14).

It should be noted that the existing building was originally constructed as an office for the original owner Trusthouse Forte.

When the applicant seeks to justify demolition they say that it is too difficult to reuse the “former hotel”, obscuring the fact it was designed as office space.

There is no reason why the building cannot be retrofitted for office use again. New technology makes deep service floors unnecessary and most 1960s office buildings can be retained. The British Red Cross has recently refurbished its building, in Moorgate, for example.

Saving the structure would save a huge amount of carbon emissions, important in our fight against dangerous global heating.

For a comparable application, for the demolition and rebuilding of another 1960s office building (the Network Building in Tottenham Court Road), Camden Council’s figures showed that the retrofit option would halve the amount of carbon emissions
over the next 60 years.

In the case of Selkirk House, let’s hope that the owner can be persuaded that retaining the existing structure is the right thing to do to for the sake of future generations.

ALICE BROWN
Bassett Street, NW5