Giant butterflies swoop in potential new public space over Euston station [Lendlease]

TOWERS of private flats and offices 18 storeys high could be built on land above HS2’s new Euston station while a railwayland site has been earmarked for the project’s “affordable” homes.

Investment giant Lendlease is consulting on how much “over-station development” (OSD) can be built before submitting a planning application next year.

Slides show the tall buildings are likely to be packed into small plots of land stretching up the railway between Euston and Camden Town that are also designa­ted for community facilities.

Blocks 10 storeys high could line a small stretch of the “Camden Cutting” in Park Village East, while “affordable” homes would be built in a small nook between the Mornington Street Bridge and the Edinboro Castle pub.

Meanwhile, above the new Euston station a dense forest of high rise towers is proposed by the “master planner” company that was accused this week of having a “secret agenda” by Robert Latham, an anti-HS2 campaigner who lives in Silsoe House.

He said: “It is apparent that the final plan significantly reduces the potential for OSD. There are no longer any plans to deck over any of the line to the north of Hampstead Road Bridge. Neither are there any plans to deck over the classic lines immediately to the south of Hampstead Road Bridge.

“The areas where there is no longer any potential for OSD are all those which had been zoned for social housing and community facilities. The consultation document does not consider the conse­quences of these changes.

“The big question is whether the Department for Transport still expects Lendlease to extract surplus value of £4bn from the OSD. If so, this can only be achieved by a gross overdevelopment of the site and by reducing the community benefit that we have been promised.”

The land around Euston was compulsorily purchased and will be sold off to a developer when the HS2 project is complete. The sale of the land, which has been valued around £4-6bn, is one way the government plans to recoup the huge cost of the overall project.

Lendlease says there is an opportunity to deliver new homes, cycle routes, sports facilities and affordable workspaces. It has released designs of how a future Euston could look, showing a diverse group of people mingling among gigantic butterflies, as the sun sets over central London.

HS2 Ltd, the company in charge of the £108billion project, has indicated it will back out of a commitment to remove construction spoil by rail, arguing it may help finish the Euston works earlier than its current 2036 target date.

The Euston section of the project was placed under review by prime minister Boris Johnson after criticism of spiral­ling costs and delays, leading to design tweaks.

Phil Gould, Lend­lease’s project director for Euston, said: “While we’re at an early stage of the masterplan and focused on the vision for Euston, we also want to ensure that the local com­munity are able to influence this process in its early stages so that they can reap the benefits from the development.

“Local residents around Euston deserve a properly connected neighbourhood they can flourish in, one with people at its heart, which is why we want to hear from the community and work hand-in-hand to deliver a place that works for everyone.”