Proposed extensions, alterations and change of use of the former Camberwell Police Station Section House ‘rear building’ (sui generis) to Nursery (Use Class E f)

The Camberwell Society has no objection to the conversion of this building to a nursery for pre-school children and the basic strategy of removing internal partitions to create spacious rooms seems a good one.

There are some aspects of the design that might be improved:

The form and position of the new first floor extension suggests a glass belvedere, opening up the room behind to views of the outdoors. It was a surprise therefore to find that its proposed use was for WCs. We suggest that the these would be better positioned below the second floor WCs, so that the extension can achieve its potential as a feature which enhances the building and improves the experience of those using it.

The room with no windows on the ground floor, between Rooms 1 and 8, would benefit from having some windows or glazed doors, and the lantern in the corner of that room would perhaps make more impact in the reception area.

The plans for the outdoor play space for the children lack conviction. We think that the application requires a landscape scheme which would change the existing bleak hard surfaced outdoor space to a play garden with trees, shrubs, flowers, soft surfaces and dedicated age appropriate play equipment.

For these reasons the Camberwell Society objects to this application.

Demolition of all existing buildings on site and comprehensive redevelopment to provide a part-three and part-four storey new care home (Class C2 - Residential Institutions), including up to 63 bedrooms each with wet room, plus cycle parking, refuse/recycling storage, mechanical and electrical plant, new sub-station, landscaping and green/living walls, amenity areas, perimeter treatment and associated ancillary works. | 10 Love Walk London Southwark SE5 8AE

The Camberwell Society’s view is that the applicant’s account of their design intentions to meet the requirements of the proposed elderly residents did not correspond to the design that they have submitted for planning. The applicant’s stated mission is:

“Personalised care is provided in “households” where care rooms are arranged in small social groupings with their own lounge, dining area and ancillary spaces including support facilities”.

This is not what the drawings show: the building consists of two slab blocks of 3-4 storeys, the elevations characterised by repetitive arrangements of window openings and masonry.

The bedrooms are arranged along corridors, two thirds of which have no natural lighting. The communal rooms also lead off these corridors, and are mostly barely bigger than the bedrooms they are intended to serve. The only dining room is on the ground floor.

There is extremely limited access for the residents to outdoor space, most of which is on the Love Walk and Kerfield Place ground floor street frontages, and probably beyond the unassisted reach of residents suffering from dementure. More use could be made of roof gardens, which could provide amenity space close to the bedrooms.

The applicant’s stated objective to provide a series domestic scale groupings of bedrooms and communal facilities, each with its own recognisable character, where the residents could feel at home, is a worthy one. This is not the design to achieve such an objective.

The likely impact of the proposal on this prominent site adjacent to the Conservation Area was thought to be damaging. The immediate surroundings of the care home is characterised by two storey detached houses, pavilions in a landscape, in which environment this three and four storey block would be an unsympathetic addition.

The Camberwell Society objects to this application.

22/04096/FUL

Camberwell Society objects to this planning application for several reasons.

Unfortunately, Camberwell Society were not engaged as part of the applicant's community engagement, so were not able to comment on this proposal before an application was submitted.

The height of the proposed building is out of keeping with the surrounding context. The proposed ‘landmark’ element of the building will be overbearing towards residential properties to the south. The western elevation is significantly taller than the existing building, and will be overbearing towards the residential gardens to the west of the site.

The proposed industrial use and employment increase is supported, however the vehicular trips generated by ‘dark kitchens’ would have a significant detrimental effect on neighbours, including increased noise and traffic. The significant increase in vehicle movements to support dark kitchens will have a negative impact on air quality, to the detriment of neighbouring residential properties and local residents.

The scheme does not adequately improve biodiversity. The proposed UGF factor of 0.21 is insufficient. A factor of 0.3 at minimum should be required.The scheme could be improved by incorporating green SUDs, which would act to improve biodiversity on the site.

The architectural resolution of the building is poor. The scheme lacks reference to its context, including the adjacent Minet conservation area. The scheme proposes a poor, inactive frontage to Lilford Road, with minimal and poor quality landscaping. There is a lost opportunity here to provide a public benefit, through meaningful landscaping or public art.

For these reasons, the Camberwell Society objects to this application.

It is clear from recent past experience that applications for permission to erect scaffolding shrouds and advertisements on the front elevation of buildings in central Camberwell is not about refurbishment work but about the advertising panels to be mounted on the scaffolding.

The two previous examples at 352 – 354 Camberwell New Road and 3 Camberwell Church Street illustrate this. There is no sign that any significant refurbishment work has taken place on the front elevation at either address and certainly not enough work to justify the presence of the scaffolding and shrouds/advertisements for a whole year.

The reason given for the approval of planning permission for the shroud and screen at 3 Camberwell Church Street (21/AP/3130) was that the shroud, which would replicate the front elevation of the building behind, would preserve and enhance the appearance of the Conservation Area and would be preferable to an undecorated screen.

This has been demonstrated not to be the case. The image of 3 Camberwell Church Street to be found currently on Google Maps shows a screen that was seriously over-dominant in its context, and which was completely taken up with the advertisement feature, despite the planning permission having stipulated that the shroud should show an image of the building behind with the advertisement panel limited to its centre.

There is a distinct similarity between the planning application for shroud and advertising at 3 Camberwell Church Street and the current application (22/AP/3864). None of the refurbishment work included in Schedule of Work attached to the Camberwell Green application involves scaffolding on the front of the building. All the proposed work is at the rear of the property, to roofs, brickwork, flashings and windows.

In addition, the presence of scaffolding on the pavement will create an obstruction for pedestrians, give graffiti artists the opportunity to decorate the building’s walls at high level, as at 352-4 Camberwell New Road, and the decorated screen will cut out daylight from the upper floors of the building.

The appearance of the Camberwell Green Conservation area will not be preserved or enhanced by what is proposed here.

The Camberwell Society objects to this application.

22/AP/1095 - Construction of a part six, part five storey residential block on Wyndam Road and part five, part four, part three storey residential block and replacement church on Redcar Street, and construction of a three storey residential terrace on Miah Close and pair of semi-detached two storey houses on the new mews street. The proposal will deliver a total of 104 residential homes including 42 affordable homes, 32 Specialist older persons homes and 30 private homes, and the provision of a new road through the site, new landscaping, play space, car parking and cycle storage.

The site layout makes efficient use of a highly constrained site, and the pedestrian link through the site (from Councillor Street at the south-east to Wyndham Road) is welcomed, as it will provide a pleasant off-street walking route and increase natural surveillance.

The Camberwell Society believe the building fronting Wyndham Road is of an uncharacteristic height and massing. The 6-storey building is out of keeping with the surrounding context, and will harm the setting of the Camberwell New Road Conservation Area. The setting of the 6-storey building close to Wyndham Road will reduce daylight and sunlight to the Ark All Saints Academy. The Camberwell Society are of the opinion that the main building needs to be set back, reduced in height, or incorporate additional stepping to negate these detrimental effects.

Due to the uncharacteristic and detrimental height and massing of the building, the Camberwell Society object to this application.