Sands End in Fulham and Mill Hill in Barnet are two areas of North London which are heavily under re-development. Both were run down and derelict areas, which are now set to become flourishing communities once again, following regeneration. Here we take an updated look at both schemes:
Forget Chelsea – Sands End is about to become North London’s ‘must move to’ destination.
A total of 1800 new homes are now up for sale at the development, which sits at the site of the former Fulham gasworks near the Thames, between Wandsworth and Battersea Bridges. It’s a smart piece of luxury development, whose main residential area is to be known as King’s Road Park. Amenities include a private garden, spa and pool, bar and dining room, two cinemas and a games room.
With apartments starting at £655,000, those buying are unlikely to be first time buyers. The site will also include a six-acre park, as well as 100,000sq ft of restaurants, bars and offices.
The entire regeneration scheme isn’t set for completion until 2036, by which point one third of the homes will have been ‘affordable’ and others set at London Living Rent levels.
Barnet gets boost with additional properties approved
London mayor Sadiq Khan intervened in a planning dispute this summer, with the result even more homes are to be built than was originally planned.
The 844 homes are to be built on the site of the former Pentavia Retail Park in Mill Hill. An application for 724 homes there by the developers Meadow Residential and architecture firm Arney Fender Katsalidis last summer was rejected on the basis that not enough of the homes were earmarked for ‘affordable’ housing (at that time it was 35 per cent of the homes) and that it would lead to what they termed ‘over-development’ of the original site.
Following Khan’s intervention by ‘calling in’ the application in November last year, the council approved new plans which have increased the number of homes to be built by 120 to 844, with 41 per cent of the total number to be used for ‘affordable housing’ i.e. social rent, and for London Living Rent means. Of the 345 affordable homes in the development a total of 94 are to be for social rent, 57 for London Living Rent, 73 earmarked for shared ownership and a further 131 for discounted market rent.
The development will consist of a number of high-quality one and two-bedroom apartments, in a handful of high-rise towers. In total, the architects say ‘10,193 sqm worth of terraces, balconies and rooftop amenity space will be created.’ A total of 660 new trees will also be planted.
Khan was officially entitled to ‘become the local planning authority’ because of its significant impact on the London Plan.