 Piano's standing as an "international star" had, in Sidor's view, given the architect the clout to insist on the development's more unorthodox features and had been essential for such an ambitious complex to receive planning permission in the first place.A less favourable perspective was offered by Ellis Woodman of "Building Design", who criticised the lurid appearance of the development.He complained that "the site has been overdeveloped, to my mind, grotesquely so" and that its visual impact was "as shocking as that of any building realised in central London in 40 years".