Approval for Crown Gardens follows rejection of identical scheme in March 2024
Woking Borough Council’s planning committee has approved Pod Architects’ Crown Gardens scheme, a 25-storey build-to-rent (BTR) development in Woking town centre.
The project, commissioned by Donard Homes, will deliver 272 homes and 550m² of retail and commercial space.
Crown Gardens will include a mix of 1, 2, and 3-bedroom apartments. Facilities will include a gym, workspaces, and outdoor communal areas.
The design incorporates sustainable features, with landscaped setbacks providing residents with green spaces at various levels and enhancing biodiversity.
The scheme also prioritises placemaking, with an active frontage and public realm improvements integrated with the adjoining Cleary Court development. These enhancements include a new 500m² public square and 44 new street trees.
Design
The architect describes the façade design as creating a connection between the conservation area, characterised by Victorian and Edwardian red-brick buildings, and other emerging developments in the area, such as Crown Place and Cleary Court.
The architects propose a plinth at the lower levels to align with the surrounding streetscape, while the upper levels are designed to express the building’s verticality.
To integrate the development with its surroundings, the massing is divided into three distinct elements. These include two red-brick gateway blocks at either end of the site, described as architectural bookends that address key views within the townscape, linked by a lighter brick central block along Chobham Road.
The architects also highlight the use of horizontal white bands to break up the vertical red-brick pilasters, with these bands placed to reflect the stepped terraces of the building. At street level, the pilasters extend to the ground, defining the shopfronts.
The site is currently occupied by a commercial building ranging from two to five storeys, with retail space formerly occupied by British Home Stores, which is set to be demolished. New retail space will be introduced along Commercial Way and Church Street East.
Approval follows efforts to address concerns raised in a previous refusal, against the advice of officers, in March 2024. Issues cited included townscape impact, heritage harm, parking provision, and the absence of a Section 106 agreement.
The design of the resubmitted scheme was unchanged, but updates, including a revised heritage, townscape and visual impact assessment and a new parking provision strategy, successfully resolved the objections.
The proposed Section 106 agreement secures on-site affordable housing, a BTR clawback covenant, and contributions to mitigate impacts on the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area.
Planning officers concluded that the benefits of Crown Gardens – most notably its significant contribution to meeting housing demand and revitalising Woking town centre – outweigh the limited heritage and townscape impacts identified. The project aligns with the council’s Core Strategy to deliver nearly 2,000 new homes in the town centre by 2027.
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