Although I couldn’t find details on their website, this Lambeth Council press release confirms that they have given permission for demolition of the existing building and the construction of 419 flats and a primary school in its place.
We objected to the demolition (see earlier post) and were backed up by the 20th Century society. English Heritage were less forthcoming although they did think it was important that someone make a record of the building before it was destroyed...
Lambeth Planning Department’s view was that the building had no policy protection, appeared on no ‘list’ and thus could not be saved.
The information that BT uploaded for us to show that they had performed due diligence on the ‘re-use’ option certainly highlighted the limitations of the existing structure but ultimately was more convincing as a demonstration of how much less profitable this might have been for the developer rather than how impossible.
There were of course a lot of objections to the proposals which looked like they could have given the council pause, most notably that the proposed primary school, which provides the ‘planning gain’, is too close to an existing primary school and that, of the 419 new flats, only 19 are affordable.
