The Queensway Parade project in the City of Westminster has been given the go-ahead just a year after Vabel bought the 18,600m² site.
The plot at 114-150 Queensway in Bayswater is now set to be converted from a ‘tired, underutilised parade’ into a mixed-use development of two connected seven-storey buildings offering homes as well as space for offices and shops.
The scheme replaces previous plans for the site by Foster + Partners – a timber office and shopping-led development, known as The William, which was approved by the council in late 2023.
This earlier scheme was designed in conjunction with Fosters’ overhaul of the Grade II-listed Whiteley department store opposite, and only used a fifth of the plot for housing.
Despite several revisions to adjust the massing of the six-storey block, this office-driven plan was abandoned by the then-owners, estate investment management firm MARK.
After buying the site Vabel, which has a dozen-strong in-house architect team, said it aimed to ‘enhance the existing planning consent’, by giving the scheme a residential focus, aligning with the Westminster and London-wide goals of increasing affordable and private housing supply’.
Vabel proposes 37 per cent affordable housing, which it says ‘exceeds local and London-wide policy requirements’.
Its scheme received 22 comments on Westminster’s planning portal, objecting mainly to the size of the planned block and its impact on conservation sites. But the planning officer’s report said that the new design ‘shows notably greater contextual awareness and mitigation than the 2023 scheme’. The report also described the proposed building’s façade as ‘influenced by the character of mansion blocks’ in the surrounding area.
Speaking to the AJ, Vabel co-founder Jeremy Spencer said the scheme’s speedy journey from application (May this year) to approval (last month) came from the team maintaining control over the entire process.
‘Because we are the contractor, we are the designer and architect, we are the owners, it puts us in a position to be very efficient and optimise every step of that decision-making process,’ he said.
Spencer added that having both developers and architects in the room with the council meant issues could be quickly resolved and plans changed to accommodate feedback, without needing to go ‘back to the drawing board’ with different companies.
Vabel founders Daniel Bailiti (left) and Jeremy Spencer (right)
He added: ‘Time is one of the biggest killers. Out of all the challenges we face, delays are often the most damaging from a commercial perspective.’
To purchase the site – the company’s second in Westminster – Vabel secured a £30 million co-loan provided by OakNorth and ASK Partners, according to the Estates Gazette.
Spencer conceded that with Vabel’s set-up as site owner and developer, there came a ‘huge risk’ of financial exposure. And although the AJ has previously reported on practices that are working as architect/developers, this combined business model remains uncommon.
‘It’s very challenging,’ Spencer said, ‘but I think on a smaller scale there are people making it work.’
Vabel’s other Westminster development is a similar, but smaller, housing scheme down the road from the Queensway site, which is on the verge of completion after being a ‘hole in the ground’ only about a year ago.
Vabel began as a collaboration between Spencer and his co-founder, Daniel Baliti, in 2009 as a vehicle for the pair to create bespoke housing on a relatively small scale. But it has now begun delivering significantly larger projects.
Spencer described Vabel as a small to middling enterprise, having a portfolio mostly consisting of short apartment blocks of less than 50 units.
It intends to prioritise the on-site construction of the Queensway Parade scheme once its other Westminster project is complete.
Project data
Type of project Residential led
Architect Vabel
Developer Vabel
Planning consultant Turley
Heritage consultant Turley
Fire consultant Semper
Structural/civil engineer Consibee
Energy and sustainability Integration
Landscape design Townshend
Building control consultant SWECO
Views and visualisations Hayes Davidson
Community involvement and consultation Concilio
Ground investigation A Squared
Acoustics Acoustics Central
Kitchen odour risk assessment AQC Air Quality
Construction logistics WSP Transport & Waste Management
Lighting GIA
Utilities management Energeyes
Ecological assessment Optimis Consulting
Arboricultural impact assessment Elemental
BREEAM Eight Versa
Pre-demolition audit Erith
Archaeology MOLA
Planning reference 25/03223/FULL