The latest image of what the redevelopment scheme will end up looking like – although full details of the changes are yet to be made clear

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THE developer behind one of Camden’s most controversial schemes has just made it even more controversial – by asking to go bigger.

Landsec had already been at the ­centre of years of debate over what should happen on the O2 Centre shopping centre in Finchley Road, which is facing a date with a demolition wrecking ball.

Some neighbours and residents groups were seething about the scale of the complex of private homes that were being drawn up for the land, and fractious debate surrounded Camden’s planning committee’s decision to approved the proposals eighteen months ago.

Now sparks are flying again after the company said it has a new plan for the O2 site to boost its commercial gain by adding more flats to sell on the private market and taller blocks.

It said it had “revisited” its masterplan for the key site in West Hampstead and there were fresh talks with Camden’s planning department. The first phase of the project to build 1,800 homes on the site was approved by the council in March last year, despite thousands of objections.

Some Labour members characterised opposition to the scheme from its political rival as nimbys stopping the creation of new housing.

Key details of how Landsec want to diverge from the original plan and what kind of housing the area will get once its all been built are yet to be release.

But a basic overview includes adding two storeys on top of “most of the buildings”.

The public will be given more details in a series of workshops to be held in the shopping centre in the coming weeks.

SEE ALSO FIRST PHASE OF 02 CENTRE DEVELOPMENT APPROVED AFTER MARATHON PLANNING MEETING (MARCH 2023)

Janet Grauberg, chair of the West Hampstead Amenity and Transport group, said: “We’ll be interested to see the new ideas in detail, but residents have always felt that Landsec’s plans don’t strike the right balance between new homes, and community benefits.

“The plans approved by the council last year don’t meet their policies on the proportion of affordable homes, or amount of open space, for example.

“And there’s been no real progress on improvements, including a lift, at West Hampstead underground station, to enable it to cope with more people. “If the new buildings are to be higher and denser, we’d be concerned that this will make things worse, not better.”

Landsec, the owners of the O2 Centre since 2010, is following in the footsteps of several other developers who return to the council with revised plans after an initial scheme is approved. In the planning system as a whole, an argument of “commercial viability” is often used to argue that a project proposed several years ago is no longer acceptably profitable for the landowner, due to fluctuations in the market. Landsec said there had been “significant changes to building regulations” since its first proposals were drawn up.

For the O2, the developer said it now wants permission to add 50 homes to its Phase 1 plan – up from 600 to 650 – on the section of the land formerly home to Homebase, and part of the shopping centre car park. Of these it said 36 per cent would be classed as “affordable”.

It is not clear how many homes the developer wants to increase the overall project by, currently set at 1,800 – twice the size of the entire Chalcot estate.

There would be 55 more trees and a new open space the “size of a tennis court”, a larger community building and more play space in a new “park”.

O2 development director Tim Trillo said: “We’re taking the opportunity to evolve the first phase of the Masterplan in a way that responds to necessary changes to regulations and legislation, while delivering additional benefits to the community: more green space, more community space and more homes.

“We look forward to welcoming the community to our events and workshops to create a place that works for everyone.”

The “community events and workshops” will take place on the second floor of the O2 Centre on October 24 and 26, and November 6.