A Camberwell industrial site on Parkhouse Street will be redeveloped to provide 85 new homes and repurposed commercial space after the plans received council approval.
At the planning committee meeting on Wednesday, September 14, a council officer said the development “would be high quality, provide 40 per cent affordable housing and modernised workspace”.
Objections to the proposal have been that a nine-storey building would overshadow neighbouring Burgess Park and be out of character with the surrounding area.
The site is currently used by a brewery wholesaler and comprises low-rise commercial buildings, four flats, and a single-storey brick warehouse.
Of the 85 homes, 51 will be available at market rates and 21 at social rents. Thirteen are at intermediate rates which are 80 per cent of the market rate.
Developers Dolphin Living were sent back to the drawing board in December 2021 after their initial design proposal received 69 objections.
People said the 10-storey proposal, comprising 100 homes, was too tall, would cause a substantial loss of light, and impose on Burgess Park.
The new proposals reduced the height from ten to nine stories, reduced the number of homes by fifteen, and set the development further away from Parkhouse Street.
A council officer said that “the substantial scheme revisions that took place during the course of the application have suitably addressed the majority of concerns”.
The commercial space is being repurposed and is likely to house retail and artisanal businesses, according to a council officer. They added that the developer had the final say on who new commercial tenants would be.
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However, some concerns do remain. Councillors pointed out that some of the new homes were not ‘exemplary’ because some of their bathrooms did not have windows.
Under the Southwark Plan, new housing should be ’exemplary’ meaning it must have a minimum amount of floor space among other requirements.
The council officer pointed out that, in all other areas, such as provision of bulk storage, floor space and dual aspect windows, the homes are exemplary.
Councillor Richard Livingstone also pointed out that less than a quarter of the three-bedroom homes were earmarked as social rent.
He said the Southwark Council housing waiting list clearly showed the need for social rent family homes.
A spokesperson for Dolphin Living said that Southwark’s planning requirements did not specify how many bedrooms social rent homes needed to have.
Dolphin Living is a housing charity that provides rent tailored to tenants’ income. In 2021, 79 per cent of their 799 homes were available for intermediate rent at an average discount of 40 per cent on local market rents.
