By

Contemporary new dwelling on garage site

We were approached to assess the viability of redeveloping a former garage site in the heart of central Croydon. The client’s plan was to try and build a contemporary home on the site.

Council

London Borough of Croydon

Issues

The site was a block of former garages so contamination was an initial concern. In addition to this, the site was overlooked from flats and private residential dwellings. Given this, we were concerned about potential objections.

Solutions

Design was always going to be key to getting a result. We prepared a detailed design brief to ensure that the architect was fully aware of the site and regulatory constraints.

Kyle Buchanan of the Buchanan Partnership was eventually selected as our preferred architect partner. He undertook a range of massing options and following discussions between the client and Plainview a scheme was chosen. The key was to minimise any undue impact on neighbouring residents.

We also undertook detailed research into local precedents and also the housing need in the local area. Both of these added further weight to the case for granting planning permission.

Result

We secured planning permission on time and on budget. There were some last minute problems, with the Council case officer requiring last minute information but we managed to negotiate and he accepted that the requirements were not strictly necessary.

Our client had these kind words to say:

“Throughout the entire application process everybody involved from the Plainview Planning team provided me with the very highest levels of courtesy, patience and above all professionalism. The positive outcome of this application clearly shows your business formula works. Once again thank you for taking on this application and getting the desired result.” Disdale Gordon, D&G Recovery

We understand that construction will commence in early 2013.