December 2012 Archives

"Close to Transport"!!!

By Daniel Smith on December 20, 2012 6:01 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
One of the important requirements we opt for whilst searching for a new home has to be "close to transport". Well, how about this for proximity!

The project team (Landolt and Brown architects & Charles James Developments) for this upcoming new scheme in Brick Lane have come up with an ingenious way of making full use of it's challenging site. Why is it challenging? well, because it has the new East London Overground Extension running straight through the middle of it (image 1).

However, this hasn't deterred the team because their design involves a building that will straddle either side of the tracks, with a single-storey building running "underneath" the tracks, which will provide retail units (images 2&3).

Lets hope there's good sound proof for the residents, especially the retail occupants!

Five houses and 1x maisonette will be developed, together with retail and B1 space. Visit the developer's website for more details on Brick Mews   

brick mews 1.jpgimage 1 - google maps

brick mews 2.jpgimage 2 - Charles James Devts / Landolt and Brown

brick mews 3.jpgimage 3 - Charles James Devts / Landolt and Brown







Redevelopment of Oval cricket ground gets under way

By Paul Wellman on December 18, 2012 11:31 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Cricket fans, I have news. Whilst site visiting last week I came across this; what appears to be structural support going up around the Oval's Pavilion. I've been visiting this site for a while now, it has permission for a new 190 bed hotel as well as the redevelopment of the Lock, Laker and Peter May stands at the eastern end of the ground, to the north of the Pavilion.

oval 2.JPG
Hopefully this is the very start of redevelopment; apparently the hotel element has been dropped though? (according to security at the site). We will have to wait and see if this is indeed the case. 

The ground currently has a capacity of 23,000. The new 6 storey stand that will replace the Lock, Laker and Peter May stands will contribute 6,239 seats, an uplift of 1,862 bringing the new capacity to 24,862. Here's what the completed development will look like (it's to the left of the pavilion in the first render).

oval 5.bmp
oval 4.bmp
oval 1.bmp
oval 2.bmp

Bogus landlord strikes in Islington

By Daniel Smith on December 14, 2012 10:25 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks


Evening Standard 13 Dec 2012 - click here for story and details about a new "kitemark" system for rental sector.



Did you know.......

By Daniel Smith on December 12, 2012 11:21 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

.......British soul singer Billy Ocean took his stage name from the Ocean Estate in Stepney, where he was living at the time.

The Estate is undergoing regeneration with two phases, Vivo & So Stepney, currently released to the market.

 Prices from £199,950.

billy ocean.jpgHere's a fly through video of the scheme.

The High line and its knock-on regenerative effects

By Paul Wellman on December 7, 2012 10:37 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Here at the Pint of Milk Test, we've written a number of times about New York's High Line project. I believe the schemes success is really quite unprecedented, not just in terms of the improved physical environment and social interaction but also its continued regenerative benefits and knock-on effects it is having.

The BBC stated 'all along the route, prices have shot up. Apartments that were once in the middle of nowhere are now hot property. Fancy hotels such as the Standard now arch over the railway line. As a result, there has been an estimated $2bn (£1.25bn) of new economic activity along the route'.

Added to that list, which must be the biggest to date, is Hudson Yard. According to World Architecture News, this new mixed-use development got under way this week. The project will transform a 26 acre rail yard which the High Line loops around. The project is said to be one of the most ambitious in New York's history and encompasses 13 million sq ft of development. Stephen Ross, Chairman of developer Related Cos, called the project 'a city within a city... the heart of New York'. (WAN)

Would the project have happened without the colonisation of an old redundant railway line with plants and people? Probably not.
                                                                                                          Picture courtesy of World Architecture News 
Hudson - New York1.jpgIn this render below (right) you can see the high line prominently in the foreground as it runs towards the huge towers within the development.
                                                                               Picture courtesy of World Architecture News 
Hudson - New York3.jpg
Here you can see the route of the high line as it snakes round much of the boundary of the site.
                                                                               Picture courtesy of World Architecture News 
Hudson - New York.jpg
The leaning structures take quite a different form to that normally found across Manhattan.
                                                                               Picture courtesy of World Architecture News 
Hudson - New York2.jpg

Planning application submitted...

By Nigel on December 6, 2012 1:42 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
for an alien autopsy centre in Brighton:

Planning applications.jpgMore info here.

Silicon roundabout to get a makeover

By Paul Wellman on December 6, 2012 10:21 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I wrote over a year ago (here) about some concept plans for Old Street roundabout, now known as Silicon roundabout. The plans (below) were of a kind of Piccadilly Circus for East London. The designers stated... "We're told the advertising space on the roundabout is some of the most expensive in Britain. Rather than resist that, we saw an opportunity in turning that onto its head, by opening the whole thing up."


silicon roundabout.jpg

At the time I wrote... "TfL have said they would be happy to talk and Islington retweeted saying "very interesting". The architects 00:/ ('zero zero') were also keeping their cards close to their chest when I asked them more on their ideas. The old adage 'only time will tell' I think describes this proposal in seeing whether it will see through to fruition." To be honest it felt as if the chance for this scheme to be made a reality was quite slim. 

 

However, today the BBC stated "later this morning David Cameron and Boris Johnson will unveil plans to transform Silicon Roundabout. A number of major international firms will be announcing new investments in the east London technology cluster, but the big news is about the roundabout itself." According to the BBC, the government is investing £50m in the new building and what is described as the "peninsularisation" of the area around the roundabout. "What we're promised is what the Prime Minister will describe as "the largest civic space in Europe - a place for start-up companies and the local community to come together and become the next generation of entrepreneurs".

 

What it will also hopefully do is spruce the area up a bit, as the roundabout is fairly grimy to be fair. There's a lot of future residential development in the pipeline within the vicinity too, which will also most likely benefit. Examples include Eagle House, City Forum, Crown House, Canaletto and The Lexicon. These developments will be 27, 27, 39, 31 and 36 storeys respectively, contributing well over 1000+ units. What it must not do though, is change the area completely. The edgy, fringe location is what attracted the young tech and creative types in the first place.

Progress being made on major Surrey Canal Triangle scheme

By Paul Wellman on December 5, 2012 3:29 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
We blogged (here) nearly two years ago (soon after the outline application was submitted) on plans for a major regeneration scheme around Millwall's New Den football ground, in South Bermondsey. Here's a marketing video of the scheme which sits on a site known as Surrey Canal Triangle, but dubbed by the developers as 'London's Sporting Village'. 

With towers of up to 26 storeys, nearly 2,500 homes, hotel and office space, a huge array of sporting facilities, production facilities (known as Film City) as well as purpose built faith and community centre (capacity of 1000+), I thought the scheme was a bit overly ambitious, if I'm being honest; I still do. To be fair, the site is well located; just 1 stop from London Bridge, but in truth the area is full of light industrial units, bounded by elevated railway lines. 


With the grant of outline permission a little over a year ago, unsurprisingly there hasn't been much progress, at least it looked that way. On boards surrounding the site as well on their website, the developers Renewal are advertising the fact that they are purchasing properties by way of CPO, so progress it seems is being made. A project of this size isn't going to get under way soon after the grant of permission anyway.

However there's still no sign of any reserved matters for full planning permission so don't get excited thinking the scheme will start in the immediate future. LRR subscribers can view the EGi record here. 

Surrey canal CPO.jpg

Packington Estate, N1: Social housing at its best

By Paul Wellman on December 5, 2012 12:48 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
The Guardian had an interesting couple of articles yesterday (here) and (here), stating that the currently on going regeneration of the Packington Estate, in Islington is "social housing at its best". And it is hard to see otherwise.

Patrick Butler writes 'The Packington estate is a magnificent two-fingered challenge to the notion, fashionable in some political circles, that people who cannot afford to live in expensive areas should not live there'. 

It wasn't long ago that all the rage was on 'mixed communities'. In this day and age of viability assessments, developers have been allowed to hold local authorities to ransom by saying, 'do you want homes (with a severely reduced social stock) or no homes at all? because you can't have both homes and mixed communities; there needs to be a compromise'. With that in mind, it seems The Packington has delivered on both homes and mixed communities, a very rare thing of late.

The estate has a blend of social and private homes (and it is impossible to tell which is which); a truly mixed community. Even more impressive is the fact the first phase was wholly social, where so often it would be private so that the developer gets its sales receipts up front in order to progress with the following phases. It doesn't stop there either; the photo (below) is of the completed first phase which abuts the canal, where surely the most valuable apartments are situated? So often, the affordable element of schemes are tucked away, out of sight and next to train lines etc. Instead here, arguably the most sought after new homes within the estate have been given over to social instead of private homes. Truly commendable.

The only downer about this story is don't expect much more of it. This is a very rare exception.

packington 1.JPG
Phase 2 has also very recently completed, known as The Arc.

packington 2.JPG
And phase 3 has even more recently started, with a pile driver now on site. This was taken just last week.

packington 3.JPG
Here are the figures for each phase, showing how truly 'mixed' this development is.

Phase 1 -    0 private,    127 social
Phase 2 -    81 private,   61 social
Phase 3 -    58 private,   107 social
Phase 4 -    46 private,   125 social
Phase 5 -    50 private,   53 social
Phase 6 -    66 private,   48 social
Total -         301 private, 521 social

London Residential Research subscribers can click through on each of the phases (highlighted) to go through to the EGi record. The master record can be found by clicking on total. Not a subscriber? Want to know more? See HERE.

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