Croydon has launched a place review panel that aims to improve the image of the south London borough through new development and “shaming” developers into building better properties.
Jo Negrini, chief executive of Croydon Council said the borough’s image was an “albatross around its neck”, with a perceived lack of quality compared to other areas of London.
To combat this, the panel will review and guide all types of new development in the borough – not just real estate – to improve Croydon’s architectural image.
The panel is also in part a backlash against the proliferation of office-to-residential conversions in the borough over the past three years.
The panel has 22 members, taken from across the architectural, engineering, design and development spheres, and will be chaired by Angela Brady of Brady Mallalieu, Neil Deely of Metropolitan Workshop and Oliver Richards of ORMS.
While advisory in capacity, Negrini said that when a similar panel was used in Newham, when schemes did not receive its recommendation, they were turned down.
There will be one review day every month, with each review panel consisting of one chair and five panellists.
Design review panels, while adding another layer to the planning process, are not unpopular with developers. As council budgets are cut and there are fewer design officers, they can offer a valuable steer on what is expected of a scheme before it goes to committee.
“When you get in front of a committee and say we did speak to the panel, that helps,” said Jonathan Stoddart, senior director of planning at CBRE.
However, he sounded a note of caution over the implementation and expectations of panels, which can vary considerably.
Under permitted development rights, a number of offices in Croydon were converted to residential with minor changes to their exterior and without approval from the council.
In response to this, Croydon implemented an Article 4 exemption in certain areas to stop further conversions.
“For those outside the planning process, the only way we can have influence is by saying we are going to make everything around you amazing,” said Negrini.
“For instance, there is one PD block in particular. Over time that is going to look absolutely dreadful compared to what is going up around it.
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