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Green light for London office-to-resi recladding
A planning inspectorate has given a developer the green light to reclad a tower block where offices are being turned into homes.
Controversial: Archway Tower block
As well as the recladding, the permission also allows the developer to create a new two-storey entrance to the 17-storey building.
The north London council failed in its attempt to stop the £30m conversion of the unused office block, above Archway underground station, to 118 flats when the High Court quashed its legal challenge to the government’s office-to residential permitted development rights at the end of last year.
It was announced this week that Islington Council will launch a fresh call for a judicial review against the reforms, which allows developers to bypass affordable housing requirements.
Work has already begun on converting the tower’s interior but the ‘office-to-resi’ reforms do not cover the exterior of buildings.
The planning inspectorate’s decision means that work can now begin on the exterior and Essential Living expects residents to move into the tower in spring 2016.
Rob Whiting, asset director at Essential Living, said: ‘Our plans will bring the building back into use to the benefit of the local area, particularly business close by.’
