Scheme for St Mungo’s in west London will deliver new hostel and build-to-rent homes
AHMM-designed proposals for a new centre for homeless people, backed up with a 20-storey development of build-to-rent flats are being recommended for approval by Westminster City Council planning officers.
The practice’s scheme for charity St Mungo’s will replace an existing west London hostel with a more modern facility featuring 45 self-contained en-suite rooms and 11 further “move-on” units where people will be supported for their next steps.
AHMM’s proposals for the 0.12ha site between Harrow Road and the Westway, would see the new hostel facilites delivered in a nine-storey building fronting the main road, and the tower featuring new rental homes to the south.
Recommending the scheme for approval at next week’s meeting of Westminster’s planning committee, council officers said the proposals would deliver numerous benefits, including providing better facilities for St Mungo’s and contributing to the authority’s housing target.
They said that while the floorspace for the reprovided hostel would be “slightly smaller” than the existing building, the space would be better used, resulting in four additional rooms and a higher standard of accommodation.
The build-to-rent element of the scheme, which has been worked up in partnership with developer Stories, would feature 98 apartments – up to 14 of which would be designated as “affordable”, depending on the council’s preferred mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom homes.
Planning officers acknowledged that AHMM’s proposals would impact the setting the nearby Maida Vale, Westbourne, Bayswater, Queensway and Pembridge conservation areas, but they said the harm would be “less than substantial”.
They also acknowledged the application had attracted 18 objections, mainly concerned with antisocial behaviour from the replacement hostel facility, impact on the character of the local area, and loss of light from the new structures. Three letters of support were also received.
Recommending the proposals for approval, council officers said AHMM’s scheme would deliver a “very substantial” package of public benefits, including replacing an “architecturally harmful” building and making a “significant contribution” to the city’s 985-new-homes-a-year housing target.
Councillors meet at 6.30pm on Tuesday to consider the proposals.
2 Readers' comments