Tate Modern partially re-opens its viewing gallery with ‘no photos’ sign after owners of £2million luxury flats won privacy case over claims visitors could see into their homes
- EXCLUSIVE: Photos taken by MailOnline show the re-opened top floor platform
- Five residents triumphed in the Supreme Court earlier this year
- Judge ruled that living in the homes was like ‘being on display in a zoo’
The Tate Modern has partially reopened its top floor viewing gallery with ‘no photos’ signs after the owners of £2million luxury flats overlooked by it won a privacy case.
Five residents triumphed in the Supreme Court earlier this year when a judge ruled that living in the homes was like ‘being on display in a zoo’, with visitors to the Tate able to see into their properties.
The residents first applied for an injunction requiring the Tate Modern, in Bankside, south-east London, to cordon off parts of the top floor platform in 2017 but were unsuccessful.
The top floor gallery, which includes an exterior terrace, had been fully closed since it was shut at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Part of it finally re-opened on Monday, now with several ‘no photos’ signs dotted around the venue.
It has been renamed ‘Level 10’ and boasts a small cafe, but the south-facing portion with the dominant views over the flats remains inaccessible to the public because a permanent resolution with the residents has not yet been reached.
Signs warn visitors not to take pictures and tell them that the south-facing part is ’emergency access only’.
The Tate Modern has partially reopened its viewing platform with ‘no photos’ signs after the owners of £2million luxury flats overlooked by it won a privacy case. Above: A graphic showing the locations of the multi-million pound flats (pictured right) and the viewing platform (left)
The ‘no photos’ sign bears the symbol of a camera with a strike through and tells visitors: ‘Please respect our neighbours’ privacy’.
The sign on the barrier blocking off the south-facing portion of the platform re-iterates the message, adding: ‘No photography’.
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The 2017 injunction resulted in a judge at the High Court ruling against the flat owners, stating that they should take their own measures to protect their privacy, such as simply ‘lower their solar blinds’ or ‘install privacy film (or) net curtains’.
The owners then lost the penultimate stage of their fight at the Court of Appeal in February in 2022 when a judge agreed with the previous High Court decision.
But in February this year the Supreme Court ruled by a three-to-two majority in the residents’ favour.
The owners – Giles Fearn, Gerald Kraftman, Lindsay Urqygart, and Ian and Helen McFadyen – had argued that the platform goes against their right to privacy, as enshrined by Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
Giving the court’s majority ruling, Lord Leggatt said the lower courts had found that the living areas of the flats – which have floor-to-ceiling windows – were under ‘constant observation from the Tate’s viewing gallery for much of the day, every day of the week’.
Visitors are seen today on the exterior walkway at the re-opened top floor viewing gallery at the Tate Modern
A sign bearing the symbol of a camera with a strike through it also tells visitors: ‘Please respect our neighbours’ privacy’
The residents first applied for an injunction requiring the gallery to cordon off parts of the top floor platform in 2017. Above: The flats are seen in 2016
A photograph taken from the viewing platform in 2016 shows how visitors could see into the apartments at Neo Bankside. Pictured: A Mail on Sunday reporter in one of the flats, seen from the viewing platform
The south-facing portion with the dominant views over the flats will not be accessible to the public because a permanent resolution with the residents has not yet been reached. Above: The blocked off part of the platform today
A barrier blocking off the south-facing portion of the platform bears a sign reading ‘Emergency access only’ and ‘no photography’
A view from windows in the 1st floor of the Tate Modern, looking south towards the block of flats where residents won a Supreme Court battle
The viewing platform at Tate Modern’s Switch House gives a view directly into Neo Bankside flats. Above: 2019 file photo
The north-facing view out from the viewing platform at the Tate Modern is seen today
Another portion of the north facing view shows St Paul’s Cathedral today
He continued: ‘It is not difficult to imagine how oppressive living in such circumstances would feel for any ordinary person – much like being on display in a zoo.’
Lord Leggatt found that the Tate Modern’s viewing gallery is not a ‘normal’ use of the museum’s land and is a legal ‘nuisance’ to the flat owners.
He said: ‘It is beyond doubt that the viewing and photography which take place from the Tate’s building cause a substantial interference with the ordinary use and enjoyment of the claimants’ properties.
‘Inviting members of the public to look out from a viewing gallery is manifestly a very particular and exceptional use of land. It cannot even be said to be a necessary or ordinary incident of operating an art museum.’
In his ruling, with which Lord Reed and Lord Lloyd-Jones agreed, the Supreme Court justice said that a ‘normal use’ of the Tate’s building would not allow the flat owners to bring a claim.
The Supreme Court heard that the residents’ flats, on the 13th, 18th, 19th and 21st floors of one of the Neo Bankside blocks, are approximately 112ft (34m) away from the Tate Modern and that those on the 18th and 19th floors are at around the same height as the viewing gallery.
Lord Leggatt said the five residents had bought their flats in 2013 and 2014, and the Tate Modern’s Blavatnik Building – which houses the viewing gallery – opened in 2016.
Dismissing the High Court claim in 2019, Mr Justice Mann found that the developers of the flats were aware a viewing gallery was going to be built, but ‘did not foresee the consequences’.
However, Lord Leggatt said that ‘what the Tate and the developers of the Neo Bankside flats knew of each other’s intended uses of their land’ was not relevant to the appeal.
Lord Leggatt added: ‘The nature and extent of the viewing of the claimants’ flats goes far beyond anything that could reasonably be regarded as a necessary or natural consequence of the common and ordinary use and occupation of the Tate’s land.’
The case was set to return to the High Court to determine whether the residents would be able to get an injunction to stop the viewing platform from being used at all.
Pictures taken by MailOnline on the first and second floor of the Tate earlier this year showed how visitors to the Tate could see into the flats without going up to the viewing platform.
The viewing gallery at the Tate Modern – from which visitors can peer into the Neo Bankside apartment block – is seen in February 2020
One resident said at the time that the costly legal battle had been a ‘complete waste of time and money’ because their privacy was ‘still being invaded’.
A Tate spokesman told MailOnline today: ‘Tate Modern closed in March 2020 in response to the pandemic.
‘We reopened the gallery spaces after lockdown and have since been gradually reopening other areas of the building as our programme and visitor numbers recover.
‘We have now reached the point where we can sustainably operate level 10 as part of our regular public offer.
‘We will continue to work towards opening other spaces that currently remain closed.’
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