New homes
Why are you building so many homes on the site?
- The previous planning consent for the site was for fewer homes, but far fewer of those homes were affordable.
- We approached the site afresh, taking a design-led approach, considering important principles such as architecture, urban design, townscape and daylight.
- The number of homes we are proposing also carefully balances building costs, income from the new homes and the benefits we want to deliver for the local community.
- Our masterplan is for up to 995 new homes, allowing us flexibility for future phases of the development, but with fixed parameters around the height and size of buildings.
- Building this number of new homes allows us to deliver 60% affordable homes, as well as green space and community spaces on the site.
Will the 60% affordable housing be truly affordable for local people?
- The types of affordable housing being delivered on this site were specified by the Mayor of London as part of the bid process to be the mayor’s preferred development partner.
- 50 of the affordable homes could be purchased by a local community organisation for community-led housing
- Of the remaining affordable homes, 60% of these will be for London Affordable Rent, and 22% will be for Shared Ownership and 18% for London Living Rent.
- Of the London Affordable Rent homes, Haringey Council will have the option to purchase 50% of these if they wish.
- Nomination rights over 22 of the London Living Rent homes will be given to the local NHS trust.
- 38 homes will also be designed for older adults.
What is the plan for the 50 homes to be offered to a community organisation?
The Mayor’s Office is leading on procurement of the organisation and is developing the strategy for this at the moment. It is important to get this process right to make sure people bid. The Mayor will make funding available to support the organisation, and the intention is to deliver these homes in later phases of the development.
What is the different between London Affordable Rent and Social Rent?
- London Affordable Rent is a newer type of low-cost rent, with rate levels set by the Greater London Authority (GLA), based on national social rent caps. Like social rent, it is designed to help low-income households who are unable to secure or sustain housing on the open market. Households are typically nominated by London Boroughs.
- Like social rent, once let, London Affordable Rent homes are subject to rent setting-guidance issued by the Social Housing Regulator.
- The weekly rates for 2022-23 are:
1 bedroom |
2 bedrooms |
3 bedrooms |
4 bedrooms |
|
London Affordable Rent (excluding service charge) |
£168.34 |
£178.23 |
£188.13 |
£198.03 |
How can I access an affordable home on the site?
- As set out above, there are a number of different tenures proposed for the development. You can find out more by looking at our guide to affordable housing types here.
- London Affordable Rent homes are the lowest cost rented homes that we are proposing for the site. In order to access one of these, you will need to be on Haringey Council’s housing register, which is for those in housing need. Those on the register will be prioritised based on Haringey Council’s policy.
- London Living Rent is designed for middle-income Londoners who want to save to buy a home. You will need to live or work in London, and those who are local to Haringey will be prioritised at St Ann’s New Neighbourhood. You will have a maximum household income of £60,000 and would apply for these homes through the Mayor of London’s Homes for Londoners website
- Shared Ownership homes offer the opportunity to take out a mortgage on a share of a property and pay rent on the remaining share to a landlord like Catalyst. These homes are advertised through the Homes for Londoners website, and you can buy one if your household income is less than £90,000 and you would not be able to otherwise afford a deposit and mortgage repayments.
Building heights
Why are buildings up to nine storeys being delivered on the site?
- We took a design led approach to developing the scheme. There are areas of the scheme where it is more appropriate for higher buildings, such as towards the centre or south of the site.
- Over time, our designs shifted to reduce the footprint of some blocks, but increase those in height to nine storeys.
- This small increase in height creates better areas of public realm and allows us to keep a significant number of high-quality, Category A trees across the site which would have otherwise been lost. We also believe that it provides a better townscape and view as you enter the site, and helps with wayfinding to the new entrance in the southwest of the site.
- As well as being appropriate in design terms, we are also looking to deliver high levels of affordable housing as well as other benefits on this site, which means a certain amount of development is required to deliver this.
Where will the nine storey buildings be located?
Since submitting our bid to the Mayor of London, we have sought to place height towards the centre of the site, or to the south of the site. This is to avoid these buildings being too close to existing residents or the hospital. There is also a need to step down heights towards the north of the site as this is located within the St Ann’s Conservation Area.
Do you expect there to be issues with daylight/sunlight or overlooking for new and existing residents?
- We have undertaken daylight/sunlight studies, which were submitted as part of our hybrid planning application. These studies indicate that there is minimal impact on existing residents and the NHS hospital site.
- There’s no measurable test for privacy or overlooking, but the closest thing is separation distances between new and existing habitable rooms (eg. bedrooms, lounges and kitchens), set out in a previous version of the London Plan, where a minimum of 18-21m is advised. We substantially exceed this distance between new and existing homes across the site; though in some parts of the site, buildings are around 23m from existing buildings, which is still in excess of this guidance.
Why are proposed new houses near to Warwick Gardens not 2 storeys?
- These homes need to be 3 storeys in order to provide family housing – one of the most in-need types of property in the Borough.
- Warwick Gardens is c. 290m long. Around half of this is made up of blocks of flats, which are between 3-storey plus roof space (11m) and 5-storey (c. 14m), with small element of 6-storey. The other half is made up of 27 houses, which are 2-storey plus roof space (9m). 8 of those houses have converted their lofts. So, the prevailing nature of housing of Warwick Gardens is 3+ storeys / 9m+.
- Our bid scheme comprised 3-storey houses plus a pitched roof. Our masterplan has minimised the bulk of the houses compared to the bid scheme (and other previous schemes) and comprises houses which are 3-storeys, with no pitched roof, and approximately 9m – 9.5m tall.
- The 2014 consent was, along the eastern boundary of the site, for predominantly houses with 2-storeys plus a roof space (likely to be c. 9m), plus a small number of 3-storeys plus roof space (likely to be c. 11m).
- The StART masterplan comprised houses of 3-storeys plus a roof space along this edge. Height is unknown but likely to be comparable to the c. 11m houses in the 2014 scheme.
Landscaping
Are you planning to retain the trees that are currently on the site?
- Retaining existing trees has been central to our design evolution. Throughout the development of our proposals, we have changed the scheme to retain as many trees as possible.
- Whilst it will be necessary to remove some trees to build the development, we have been seeking to retain as many high-quality trees as possible on the site. We have undertaken further tree studies and identified a number of additional trees we would like to retain on the site and have updated the footprint of our buildings to make this possible.
- Our masterplan includes planting a wide variety of new trees, meaning that overall, there will be more trees overall.
How will the landscape be maintained?
- As a housing association, Peabody is a long-term investor in neighbourhoods and has a longstanding interest in designing, maintaining, and retaining the value of high-quality homes, facilities and public realm. We are responsible for overall estate management at St Ann’s new neighbourhood, working alongside our customers and the local community to ensure that the development is an exemplar scheme into the future.
- Peabody will own and directly manage the public realm, roads, and commercial space across the site, and will be responsible for maintaining the landscape on the site. Peabody has an in-house gardening team which will maintain external communal gardens and play spaces. We will also be employing an external contractor to undertake tree maintenance.
Routes, access and car parking
Why is there such a small number of car parking spaces, and how will you prevent surrounding streets being impacted by this?
- Planning policy from the GLA and Haringey Council is leaning towards encouraging active travel and more sustainable transport modes over private vehicles. As such, a low parking scheme was approved, with 167 parking spaces contained within the site.
- We will be providing spaces for car clubs on the site, as well as substantial secure cycle storage. We are also seeking to make journeys on foot and by bike easier through the site to reach public transport. We will limit the impact of this on surrounding roads by ensuring that new residents will not be able to purchase a parking permit for the surrounding roads.
What are you proposing to link the risk of anti-social behaviour associated with the new southwest entrance to the site?
We will make this area as safe as possible by:
-
- using appropriate design, e.g., to reduce or eliminate places where people could hide;
- ensuring sightlines are clear
- appropriate use of lighting;
- considering use of CCTV in this area (subject to the Council)
- increasing activity in the area, e.g., by people using it regularly;
- creating natural surveillance, e.g., by introducing a commercial use and/or homes that overlook the area from the new neighbourhood
- Introducing a secure fence to the rear of the Warwick Gardens building closest to the south west link to separate their garden area from the parking area.
- Ensuring the link is safe without adversely impacting the adjacent SINC
- Retaining car parking
- Improving ground finishes and perimeter planting
Retained buildings
What are you planning to do with the retained buildings?
- The retained buildings will be a flexible use, with the interiors designed to give flexibility and adaptability. This will allow them to respond to what is needed locally and what is in demand.
- The layout for most of the buildings is for a flexible workspace, which could be used by community groups and other commercial tenants. Future occupiers will fit out the building to their needs and get any necessary planning permissions needed to do this.
- Within the Peace Building there will be an on-site management facility, with a community café included.
- We will be looking to work with an affordable workspace provider to gauge interest in these spaces.
Sustainability
Will you be using renewable energy technologies on the site?
Yes. As part of developing the proposals for St Ann’s New Neighbourhood, we undertook a renewable technologies feasibility study. This identified photovoltaics and air source heat pumps as suitable technologies for the development.
How sustainable is the development?
- We have sought to make St Ann’s New Neighbourhood as sustainable as possible. We have implemented an Energy Hierarchy, which will see CO2 savings on site of 76.1% for the new build areas and 56.5% for the retained building areas of the development.
- This means that, in total, St Ann’s New Neighbourhood will achieve a site wide carbon emissions reduction of 73.3% through passive design and energy efficiency measures.
- Water efficient fittings will also limit residential water consumption to fewer than 105L per person per day.
- Sustainable forms of transport are prioritised with 1,734 long stay and 70 short stay cycle parking spaces. A low car development, with safe pedestrian and cycle routes is also proposed.
- We are targeting an urban greening factor of 0.415 through provision of meadows, woodlands, rain gardens, swales, open mosaic habitat and bio-solar roofs.
- We will protect features of ecological value and targeting 12% biodiversity net gain, extending ecological routes (SINC) and supporting local bat and bird populations.
Community and engagement
Will you be undertaking any more consultation?
In the future, as the designs for later phases are further developed, we will be looking to consult with the local community on the detail of these future phases.