How “Block F” on Sanderson Close will look

A PLAN to redevelop a Victorian warehouse complex in Kentish Town has triggered fears of “overdevelopment” among residents of a nearby estate.

According to documents submitted to the Town Hall last month, two separate parts of the Highgate Studios complex could be razed and rebuilt to make way for more office space on the site. Several buildings in the complex will also be refurbished and made taller.

Under the plans, land occupied by the Kentish Town PureGym building and a car park may be replaced with a large four-storey office block. Overlooking Sanderson Close, this new building will stretch from behind the Never for Ever restaurant toward Murphy’s Yard.

But residents living on the Sanderson and Carroll Close Estate are being urged by their Tenants Association (TA) to oppose the plans. Residents are particularly concerned by the plans to replace the gym with a building, called “Block F”, that they say will block their sunlight and overlook their homes and gardens.

TA Development Lead Jo Taylor said the proposals signal the “overdevelopment” of the complex and urged developers to “listen to the community” and “go back to the drawing board with Block F.”

“In the planning application, the developer makes a virtue of the fact that these properties because ‘it will bring extra security’, but this is a very safe and friendly estate and people value the quietness,” she added.

The second plot, currently serving as a car park in Carkers Lane, could be replaced by a seven-storey building that passersby would be able to see from Lady Somerset Road and the junction of Highgate Road and Chetwynd Road.

Planning documents say the two new blocks will be built to high environmental standards and argue the redevelopment will bring more green space to the site. They say the proposals will also allow greater access to any future redevelopment of Murphy’s Yard.

The Highgate Studios complex is owned by property developers Hondo Enterprises, a company run by the wealthy Texan DJ, Taylor McWilliams. Hondo Enterprises is the company behind the controversial redevelopment of Brixton Market in South London.

Kentish Town councillor James Slater said: “I have met with Highgate Studios and I’m pleased that they have listened to some concerns already, paring back some of the planned extensions on Highgate Road. But I know that some residents still have concerns, particularly about the impact of the new buildings.

“I will be submitting my views and I encourage local residents to send these to Camden as well so they can be taken into account when it goes to the planning committee.”

The deadline to respond to the planning application is today (Thursday).

A spokesperson for PureGym said the company was in discussions with the landlord and hoped to “retain a presence in Kentish Town.”

A spokesperson for Hondo Enterprises said: “Resident feedback has directly influenced the submitted proposal, with revisions made most notably to Plot F, where the building line towards Sanderson Close has been set back to improve the pavement width, as well as to minimise overlooking to neighbouring properties.

 “We are confident our scheme will deliver tangible benefit to the borough and surrounding community.”