Waltham Forest’s planning committee approved the 66-home build-to-rent scheme in north-east London at a meeting earlier this week (13 January).
HAL’s scheme, for developer Providence Capital Securities, replaces a pair of low-rise 1880s buildings, previously used as a Barclays Bank and a solicitor’s office. The project includes 17 discounted apartments, a ground-floor café space, and a semi-public ‘yard’ space.
The practice previously won approval for a similar scheme in March 2022, but returned to the drawing board to accommodate a second stair core in the tower.
Planning officers had recommended approval of the reworked scheme, saying that while the additional staircase ‘had increased the overall bulk of the building’, the height and number of new homes remained the same ‘without diminishing the design quality of the development’.
The latest application received six objections, mainly over height and massing. In 2022, consent was given despite concerns aired by neighbours about the tower’s impact on daylight and privacy. Residents had argued the scale of the block was excessive and overbearing.
HAL Architects founder Hal Currey previously told the AJ: ‘The site has a high PTAL [Public Transport Accessibility Level] rating and is identified in the local plan as suitable for a tall building.
‘The scheme will be seen alongside existing and emerging buildings of a similar height, contributing to the regeneration of the town centre, where a lot of change is taking place.’
The scheme’s one, two and three-bed apartments – the majority of which will be dual-aspect – will sit above a two-storey podium accommodating residents’ amenities, visitor bicycle parking and a café. There will also be seating in a new pocket park overlooking the junction of Hoe Street and Station Approach and Priory Avenue to the south.
The plan includes 17 apartments available at rents ‘equating to a 26 per cent discount to market levels for households earning up to £60,000 a year’. That is the same number of discounted apartments as under the March 2022 approval.
The building will sit next to a 13-storey Travelodge and Pollard Thomas Edwards’ completed 16-storey Juniper House scheme.
A future timescale has yet to be set out. Waltham Forest Council has stated that it wants to build 27,000 new homes by 2035.
Project data
Architect HAL Architects
Landscape architect Studio Huw
Planning dp9
Townscape The Townscape Consultancy
Verified views Trooper Hill Visualisation & Design
Heritage consultant HCUK
Transport consultant Pulsar
Sustainability consultant Twin + Earth
Structural engineer Elliott Wood
MEP Robinson Associates
Fire engineering expert Hoare Lea
Day/sunlight consultant Waldram
Community consultant Development Intelligence
Biodiversity consultant Watermans
Noise and air consultant AQC
Financial viability consultant DS2
Start on site TBC
Completion TBC
Gross internal floor area 6,500m² (2022)