Application Reference &
Link: 21/AP/1648
Change of use from a 14 unit HMO (Hostel) (Sui Generis) into 5no
self-contained Flats (C3 Use Class), (comprising 1 x three bedroom
Maisonette at lower Ground Floor and Ground Floor level, 1 x Two
bedroom flat at Ground Floor Level, 1 x One bedroom flat at First
Floor Level, 1 x One bedroom flat at First floor level and 1 x two
bedroom flat Second Floor level.
This application shows scant regard for the historic and
architectural value of the house and compounds the adverse effects of
the original ill-judged conversion to an HMO.
The Camberwell Society urges Southwark Council to take this
opportunity to carry out a conversion which properly respects the
building’s historic value and the principles of good quality domestic
design.
The original conversion to an HMO involved the destruction of much of
the building’s historic character, internal and external: an
inappropriate extension, unsuitable replacement windows, rainwater
and soil pipes fixed to the front of the building, and loss of
internal features including plaster mouldings, doors, skirtings,
architraves and other joinery.
The current application fails to rectify these shortcomings and adds
new items to the list: Poorly designed flat layouts, rooms which fall
below the space guidelines set by the Southwark Residential Design
Standards, lobbies which take corners out of otherwise rectangular
rooms unnecessarily, a fire escape which has been retained but access
to it blocked off, two flats with only single bedrooms, a flat with a
dining room recess that has no windows, a maisonette without a
staircase to link its two floors, kitchen layouts and fittings
grouped in such a way as to make them un-useable and no landscaping
proposals or arrangements for bicycle and rubbish storage
The Camberwell Society objects to this application for the above
reasons