Architecture Update: Too grand for Westminster

AN IDEA for a 'grand project' in London to mark the millennium - burying Park Lane in a tunnel - was thrown out by Westminster City Council last week. An ambitious scheme to restore Marble Arch as the gateway to Hyde Park has also been abandoned.

Westminster, which carried out a feasibility study into both proposals, says they were 'far too expensive for serious consideration'. Instead the council will consider floodlighting the Strand, restoring the area around the Royal Albert Hall, and improving the Royal Parks and access to the Thames.