After four very tall towers have recently been erected opposite East Croydon Station, residents are questioning whether three more will be too many, reports BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent
Quid pro quo: the provision of an NHS centre and £20m on engineering the site may reduce the developers’ community contributions
The developers of the latest 775-flat residential scheme proposed for Croydon town centre, on the College Green site, will need to spend at least £20million to reinforce the podium on which their three blocks are to stand between the Fairfield Halls and Croydon College.
The cost of the massive engineering project, effectively under-pinning the residential blocks that are to be built in part over a closed underground car park, emerged at a public consultation session staged on behalf of the developers last night.
Croydon Council has kicked around its scheme for “Fair Field”, a public open space next to the arts centre, for several years (it was one of Paul Scott’s design wet dreams, which allowed him to squander tens of thousands of pounds of council cash on his architect mates).
Most of the plans put forward for the open space, especially those involving fountains, lakes and tall, mature trees, seemed to fail to take into account the subterranean challenges of the site. Those open space proposals have in any case been placed on hold after the council, thanks to Brick by Brick, ex-Councillor Scott and his mates, bankrupted the borough.
Sketchy: how Delta Properties plan to open up access between Fairfield Halls and Croydon College
House-builders, when proposing building three residential blocks, the tallest of 38 storeys, have to take a more practical approach, hence the consideration of the plan to reinforce the podium.
Delta Properties acquired the site from Croydon Council in the fire sale of assets conducted immediately after the authority’s financial collapse, for a price thought to be less than £25million. Delta is proposing almost twice as many homes for the site than was previously approved in an aborted Brick by Brick scheme.
Based on current market prices, the sale value of the 775 homes should be more than £200million.
Nevertheless, it seems likely that in discussions with the local planning authority, the need to spend £20million just to make the site viable will be factored in to the amount of affordable housing the developers are expected to provide, or the quantum of infrastructure levy cash they are asked to provide.
Massive massing: the view today from Park Hill towards East Croydon. Delta want to add another three blocks to this vista
According to representatives at last night’s consultation, the amount of affordable housing to be provided (most likely as unaffordable shared ownership homes) has not yet been determined.
The developers also seem likely to make the case that they are “doing their bit” for the local community by delivering a NHS clinic as part of the build. The developers have had discussions with the NHS nationally, though it is unclear whether a GP practice on this site could be accommodated in local NHS budgets.
If Delta are given the green light for their plans, the 775 flats will bring the total of new homes either completed or in the development pipeline for the town centre close to 5,000 – and that’s all before Westfield get round to delivering their own “masterplan” for the Whitgift Centre and Centrale.
In the developers’ pre-application consultation with Croydon Council, they were persuaded to reduce the height of their tallest tower by a single storey, over planners’ concerns about the massing view from Park Hill recreation ground and nearby homes.
Under the proposals – “inspired by Boxpark”, apparently – nearly one-third of the homes will be provided with car parking spaces (which means that 500 homes won’t have a parking space on site), while the pedestrian route through from the Fairfield Halls to East Croydon Station, which was lost in the demolition of the Arnhem Screen, is to be restored.
Read more: Council puts hotel and College Green up for sale for just £40m
Read more: What will the ‘new’ Westfield deal really mean for Croydon?
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