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Objectors show how the warehouse conversion would have blocked views |
Neighbours save views under threat from warehouse plans
Objectors protest that conversion would have blocked light from homes
A DEVELOPER has lost her bid to convert a 1930s warehouse in Highbury into four steel-clad studios where artists and designers could live and work.
Applicant Suzanne Petrides, of Larkfield Investments, will have to go back to the drawing board after councillors at Monday’s east area planning committee rejected the proposed building conversion in Corsica Street.
More than 20 objectors told the meeting at Holloway Resource Centre, in Holloway Road, why they felt the development, which would have an extra floor and a curved roof, was not right for the conservation area.
They argued that its height would destroy the “right of light” for residents in Liberia Road, at the rear of the development.
“It is in clear contravention of the council’s planning guidelines and has been strongly condemned by the council’s conservation team,” said Simon Younger, representing the Liberia Road residents. “It’s an avoidable loss of privacy.”
The development was “wholly unsuitable” for the street and would set a “dangerous precedent”, he said.
“We’re far from Luddite about this sort of thing,” Mr Younger added. “We support a scheme within the existing structure.”
Siobhan Dylan, representing Corsica Street-based Skyline Events, which organises parachuting and skydiving trips, said: “It will significantly reduce the light to our offices. We’ve situated all our designing staff at the front, where all the light is.”
A council planning officer told the meeting: “It’s certainly the case that a view is lost. However, there’s no absolute right to the views, in planning law.”
Larkfield Investments hoped to turn the empty warehouse into four “live-work” studios, each with two bedrooms and a workspace.
A report from the council’s conservation team said the “loudness of the design would fail to preserve or enhance the character and appearance” of the existing building.
It added: “The new storey appears over-dominating, too high and too complex in form, rather than visually subservient. The result would be overpowering and detrimental to the character of the Calabria Road conservation area.”
Paul Dickinson, speaking for the developer, said: “The proposal will generate about nine jobs. The applicant is a known local architect. Clearly, the design is different but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s quirky. It’s only 360mm higher than the existing building.”
Councillors rejected the plans on the grounds of density, that the design was unsympathetic to the area and because of the building’s bulk in proximity to surrounding buildings. |
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