Application Reference &
Link: 21/AP/1651
Change of use from a 11-unit HMO (Hostel) (Sui Generis) into 6
self-contained flats (C3 Use Class), (comprising 2 x one bedroom
flats at Lower Ground Floor level, 2 x one bedroom flats at Ground
Floor Level, 1 x one bedroom flat at First Floor Level, 1 x one
bedroom flat at 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, 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, bedrooms and
open plan living/kitchen/dining rooms which fall below the space
guidelines set by the Southwark Residential Design Standards, a flat
which has only a single bedroom, a flat with a dining room remote
from its living room and kitchen, kitchen layouts and fittings
grouped in such a way as to make them un-useable, bathrooms which
apparently have no baths or showers and no landscaping proposals or
arrangements for bicycle and rubbish storage.
The Design and Access statement claims to be following the guidelines
which emphasise “the importance of bringing forward housing whilst
protecting the character of our places, including their local
historic context and creating places where people want to live” This
is absolutely not what this application does.
The Camberwell Society objects to this application for the above
reasons