17/AP/4124
123 Grove Park London SE5
Change of use from Class D1 with an ancillary Class B1 office function
to Class C3 for residential use, including conversion and part
demolition of existing main house to enable the creation of five new
residential units and the construction of four new residential units in
the rear garden with nine off-street parking spaces, associated communal
and private landscaped areas.
This is the latest in a series of applications which grapple with the
question of how to reconcile the satisfactory architectural development
of the site with the requirements of the Supplementary Planning Document
for its development, issued by Southwark in 2007.
Some design issues have apparently been resolved over the years since
2010 when the first application was submitted. These are:
– the appropriate number of dwellings
– the protection of species trees around the site boundaries
– the interpretation of the SPD requirement for the new building in the
centre of the site.
The SPD describes this as “a single building of maximum two stories
(plus attic) not greater in scale (floorplan) than 123 Grove Park
itself” which has been successfully interpreted as four three-storey
houses grouped together and built into the slope of the site.
The remaining conundrum is the extension to the existing building which
the SPD describes as “a single or two-storey extension attached to the
main building”.
This application has extended the house to the east in the style of the
original Victorian house, but smaller and less flamboyantly, presumably
to demonstrate subservience.
This approach has not been a success.
The Planning Inspector who turned down the appeal on the 2016
application said: “The existing building appears as a complete
composition and the extension would alter it significantly.”
“In addition, the design of the extension has slavishly replicated the
design of the original building including the gabled element which,
while smaller, nevertheless competes with the main gable which is the
focal point of the elevation”
The SPD does not require the extension to be in the same style as the
original building, but that it should “respect the context of the
Conservation Area” and employ “high quality materials in construction”.
This seems to open the way for an extension which does not impinge
itself unduly on the original building, and perhaps is a little separate
from it, built in a modern idiom compatible with the character of the
Conservation Area.
In the interests of the existing building and the potential for
development of the site, we hope that a satisfactory development along
these lines can be agreed between the Council and architect/developer.