How the latest plans for 100 Avenue Road look

THE chief executive of one of Camden’s longest-running youth charities says he feels “liberated” after cutting ties with a major regeneration project after more than a decade in talks.

Rashid Iqbal MBE, who has run The Winch in Swiss Cottage since 2015, said its board had decided not to accept the offer of a new home in the 100 Avenue Road tower block scheme.

It was decided a space being offered up by developer Regal was not appropriate and it was better to try and raise funds to do up the existing building in Winchester Road, he said.

Meanwhile, Regal has applied to Camden Council to add five flats for sale on the private market at the top floor of its 25-storey tower – bringing the total number of homes due to be built on the site to 242.

Mr Iqbal told the New Journal: “After undertaking a full review of requirements, we decided the space was not appropriate for us and that it would be better put to use for affordable housing. We are strongly recommending the space is used for affordable housing.

“It’s frustrating for the Winch. It’s been ten years investing lots of time. My own time. People’s skills. We haven’t been able to invest in the building.

“Now we are going to enter into agreement with the council to stay in the current building. We are going to be in discussions with Regal about investment into the current building and whether our ancestral home can be made more fit for purpose.

“We have been working on it since 2014. The Winch is in a state of disrepair. We have had the promise of this development for over 10 years.”

He added: “Part of what has influenced our decision is that we would rather have our future in our own hands, rather than constantly be think­ing about an offer that may never materialise.

“We feel liberated from all the uncertainty and from having other people determine your future.”

Mr Iqbal said fitting out the new space was going to cost the charity around £2million, and that the latest redesign had split the space across the ground and upper floors, making it no longer an “inspiring opportunity”.

The Winch

Regal London has recently won a significant investment boost of around £500million after being taken over by the company co-founded by members of the Saudi and UAE royal family, Arada.

Plans to redevelop 100 Avenue Road – the former office of the Ham and High – were initially rejected by the council in 2014.

But after a series of disputes and a political intervention by a Secretary of State, the project was finally approved in 2016.

The building was knocked down, but construction of the private flats tower and second block of social housing was mothballed by the original applicant, Essential Living.

It said could no longer make enough profit due to rising construction costs, at one point attempting to remove all affordable housing from the scheme to make it viable.

Regal bought the site and in June the scheme was finally approved after Camden planning committee agreed 53 more homes to be added.

But the changes significantly altered the feel of the space being offered to The Winch.

Campaigners say the loss of the new home for The Winch – which has been in its current home for more than 50 years – significantly reduces the community gain from the profit-driven housing development.

Andrew Kay, from the Save Swiss Cottage campaign group, said: “The Planning Inspector used the provision of new facilities for The Winch to justify his reversal of Camden’s planning committee’s original planning refusal.”

Regal had argued new fire standards post-Grenfell, including the need for two staircases in the 25-storey tower block, forced the designs to be redrawn and with more homes added to the scheme.

Its application to the council, announced on Christmas Eve, requests permission for “an uplift in new homes” on the 25th floor of the tower, adding: “The conversion of this space would enable the development to provide an additional five market homes, increasing the overall number of homes provided on the site to 242 (an uplift from the 237 previously approved) to best meet Camden’s housing needs.”

“The proposed amendments do not alter the quantum or distribution of affordable housing within the development,” the application added.

The developer is arguing that adding the five extra homes does not “constitute a material change” and can be agreed without full planning debate.

Councillors will have to decide whether to allow the developer to add five more homes private or affordable.

In September it was announced that the United Arab Emirates real estate developer Arada has acquired a 75 per cent stake in British developer Regal.

Arada was founded by Al Qasimi, a member of the ruling family of Sharjah – a city in United Arab Emirates – and Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, the son of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, in 2017.

Regal was founded by Simon De Friend in 1998 with business partner Paul Eden.