Mayor searches for partner for 700-home development on site of former London hospital
The mayor of London has launched the search for a development partner to build a new housing development on the site of the former St Ann’s Hospital in north London.
Sadiq Khan launched the search on Friday to find a partner through his London Development Panel to build a minimum of 700 homes, of which 60% are expected to be genuinely affordable.
The London Development Panel is made up of 29 organisations and consortia, including a number of housing associations such as L&Q, Peabody and Catalyst.
Included in the affordable housing, the mayor intends to set aside 50 homes for community-led housing, enabling members of the community to own and control some of the homes. This will make it one of the largest community home-led developments in London.
Of the remaining homes, 60% will be for social rent, 20% will be for London Living Rent and 20% will be for shared ownership. The London Borough of Haringey will be given first option to acquire half of the proposed homes at social rent, under an agreement with the mayor.
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In March 2018, the mayor bought two-thirds, the equivalent of 7.1 hectares, from Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust using his land fund.
The mayor’s office now plans to appoint a development partner in spring 2020, with work set to start on the site by the end of March 2022.
The mayor has also vowed to ensure that new fire safety measures will be adopted on the project, including the control of combustible materials and the registration of built-in electrical products.
However, some aspects of the scheme have been criticised by local housing groups which have been critical of the mayor’s definition of affordable homes.
Tony Wood, chair of the St Ann’s Redevelopment Trust (StART), said: “We feel we have achieved some significant milestones although not everything that StART set out has been included.
“We are disappointed that the key aim of genuinely affordable housing in perpetuity, linked to median incomes in the area, does not appear in the Greater London Authority’s [GLA] requirements.
“We also do not agree with the GLA that shared ownership is an affordable housing “product” for the people of Haringey and we are sad the tender will include some shared ownership homes.”
This is the second former hospital site bought by the mayor for housing this year. In April he bought the 1.4-hectare site of the former Edmonton Hospital, in a deal worth £12.8m.
James Murray, deputy mayor for housing and residential development, said: “St Ann’s is a very exciting project, which we have made sure will see hundreds of genuinely affordable homes built – including council homes, homes for social rent, and community-led housing.
“We are showing what can be done with the public sector taking a clear lead. We want to do far more of this, and so the government must give us and councils the powers and funding we need to turn London’s housing crisis around.”
