High-density does not have to mean high-rise is a notion often promoted by groups, such as Create Streets and the Skyline Campaign, dedicated to protecting against poor development. It is a concept which is undoubtedly true, but less often shown through example, as those mentioned above would like.
The biggest factor is scale. For the concept to stack up, developers need large sites. However, most London towers sit on small sites. Some will argue that through better and broader masterplanning, scale can be ratcheted up, with many often citing the likes of Paris and Barcelona as being dense but low to medium-rise. It is difficult to escape that in London, a city desperately short of homes, the biggest population density lies just to the south of Canary Wharf, an area epitomised by high-rise buildings.
Developers are beginning to find innovative solutions to increase density while maintaining a limit on height.
Meyer Homes – the residential development company set up by Meyer Bergman to develop 14 sites bought from Tesco in 2015 – resubmitted plans last December for a former Tesco site in Tolworth, south-west London. Previous plans submitted in April 2015 for 705 homes, including towers of 15 and 18 storeys, were refused by Kingston Council.
To appease locals, as well as the councillors who rejected the scheme for reasons of scale and impact on highways, Meyer has dropped the high-rise elements. The tallest building will now stand at just 10 storeys.
At the same time, the number of homes has risen to 950. The number of car parking spaces remains the same, even though the number of homes has increased by 35%. Instead a cycle hub has been introduced.
Many of the buildings have been bulked out and some two- and three-storey blocks heightened slightly to five and six storeys.
Dominic Chapman, lead partner on the project for Meyer’s architect, JTP, said: “Our proposals for Tolworth will activate the streetscape through well-considered mid-rise buildings and public realm, all designed to create a high-density neighbourhood at a human scale. We have created a masterplan that provides a sequence of three consecutive public squares that permeate through the site.
“At ground level a continuous street frontage, punctuated by individual homes’ front doors, defines the edge to the public realm and ensures it will be well used.”
Development of the site has been a long time in the making, having been vacant for more than 15 years. Tesco tried and failed to get plans for 662 homes and a supermarket past Kingston Council in 2007, and then again for a slightly less ambitious scheme a year later.
It will be interesting to see how Kingston’s planning department and planning committee react to the changes when the plans reach that stage in the next few months.
With the perceived backlash against high-rise towers across the capital, this is a trend we could well see more of – developers downsizing the height of schemes but increasing the amount of homes proposed to make the numbers to stack up. To reiterate though, this can only happen at scale, where developers have big enough sites that allow for the rejigging of designs.
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