Existing Hereford House and Exeter Court
The planned new buildingsThe long awaited plans for the South Kilburn Hereford House and Exeter Court site in South Kilburn, where Brent Council is the developer, come to Brent Planning Committee on Wednesday. The number of social units is lower thatn previously provided and intermediate units have been converted to rpivate as a result of the viability assessment.
The development proposes the
demolition of the existing Hereford House and Exeter Court buildings and the construction
of four new residential buildings ranging from 3-13 storeys, the provision of
flexible non-residential floorspace at ground floor of Block C1, a new public
urban park and new access road along the western side of the site, cycle and
blue badge car parking and associated infrastructure. An overview of each area
is summarised below:
Block A:
A six storey mansion block
fronting Granville Road. The building contains a total of 42 social rent homes
(8 x 1 bed, 11 x 2 bed, 15 x 3 bed and 8 x 4 bed). The building has rear
balconies and access to the rear private communal courtyard shared with Blocks
B and C. A residential lobby, refuse stores and cycle stores are provided at
ground floor.
Block B:
A six storey mansion block
fronting Carlton Vale. The building contains a total of 68 market homes ( 34 x
1 bed, 22 x 2 bed and 12 x 3 bed). The building has rear balconies and access
to the private communal courtyard shared with Blocks A and C. A residential
lobby, refuse stores are provided at ground floor
Block C:
Block C consists of two
blocks C1 (13 storeys) and C2 (nine storeys) connected by a one storey ground
floor that fills the footprint and bridges the two block. The building fronts
the public park. The building contains a total of 124 homes. C1 contains all
market homes (45 x 1 bed and 28 x 2 bed) while C2 contains 51 social rent homes
(29 x 1 bed, 20 x 2 bed and 2 x 3 bed). The ground floor contains a large
glazed shared lobby which divides into a market residential lobby and social
rent lobby, a commercial unit of 135 sqm, refuse stores and cycle stores. A
basement would be constructed to provide addition cycle storage for Blocks A, B and C. The building has
balconies on each corner of the block and has access to the private communal courtyard
shared with Blocks A and B.
Block D
A row of three storey
terraced houses with fourth storey pop-up elements. The building fronts the
access route on Granville Road. Block D creates 16 social rent homes (8 x 4 bed
and 8 x 5 bed). Each house has a front and rear garden with separate refuse and
cycle storage.
The plans have been revised as a result of fire regulation changes, demand changes and the viability assessment (my highlighting):
A number of amendments were
made to the scheme as a result of comments raised by officers and the GLA/ TfL
during the course of the consultation exercise as well as updates to Fire
Safety Regulation and changes in viability.
The main changes to the
scheme when compared to the initially submitted scheme are a result of updates
to Fire Safety Regulation Standards and London Plan Guidance. This effected the
internal and external arrangement of Blocks A, B and C. The alterations also
alter the housing layouts on the residential floors of the proposed blocks and
changes at ground floor level to communal and ancillary spaces in order to accommodate
the different core geometry.
The housing tenure and unit
mix was also reviewed. The South Kilburn Housing Need Assessment review identified
that a larger number of smaller units are required to facilitate the decant of
residents from future phases of the masterplan. The Hereford and Exeter project
continued to face significant viability issues. The intermediate affordable
units have been removed from the scheme in lieu of private tenure units. The
provision of social rent affordable housing has therefore been maximised for
those most in need and assists the viability position for the
scheme.
As a result of these
amendments a number of updates were required to the scheme:
· The change in unit numbers,
size and tenure mean that there is a slight reduction in child yield and therefore
the required play space provision
· The increase in the
footprint of the buildings to accommodate fire safety requirements has resulted
in a reduction to the soft landscaping measures within the private courtyard
and Urban Greening Factor score
· A slight reduction in size
of the Public Open Space provided at 2,400 sqm
· Increase in quantum of
cycle parking spaces
· The daylight, sunlight and
overshadowing assessment has been updated to reflect the alterations to the
massing
· The commercial and
residential refuse arrangements have been changed to reflect the new layouts
The number of social homes on the site is reduced from 150 to 109 (from 90% to 44%)
Officers justify the changes:
Of the existing 167 residential units, 150 are affordable dwellings (100% social rent). These will be replaced with 250 dwellings of which there will be 109 affordable dwellings (All social rent). Although there would be 41 less affordable dwellings than existing, there is a significant increase in the provision of family sized dwellings and an increase in floorspace.
In addition, the scheme includes the provision of 16 four-bed homes and 8 five-bedroom homes that have the capacity to house larger families which is a benefit given the existing site does not have any provision.
Locals familiar with flooding problems on the estate will be interested in the section on flooding:
In terms of infiltration
techniques, surface water runs off from paved surfaces within the site towards landscape
planting, rain gardens, tree pits and permeable pavements. In day-to-day
rainfall, the absorption, evaporation and infiltration of surface water through
the Sustainable Drainage System features will fully drain paved areas within the site. However, owing
to the typically poor permeability of the site’s geology (made ground on London
Clay), the infiltration rate of the ground beneath the SuDS features would not
be sufficient to drain the site in severe storm events. Gullies and slot drains
are therefore also utilized to supplement the SuDS features. The attenuation of
rainwater in ponds or open water features was not considered to be feasible for
the development. Surface water overflows from SuDS features will drain into the
below ground drainage system and attenuated in tanks for gradual release to the
sewer system. There are no watercourses suitably located within vicinity of the
site to receive run off. The local sewer network is combined. It is proposed
that surface water is continued to discharge to the existing combined water network
in the vicinity of the site.
Image from the Design Statement
