Current view of the rear of Branch Hill Care Home: the historic house and the 1970s extension on the right.
Areal view of the existing undeveloped site on the left and the NW3CLT proposal of the developed site on the right.
Current view of the front of Branch Hill Care Home; the historic house and the 1970s extension on the left.
Our proposal for the Branch Hill Homes; affordable housing in the extended and retrofitted 1970s extension on the left and market flats in the historic house on the right.
Our proposal for the Branch Hill Homes; Proposed site plan with area division.
Previously council-owned and run care home for elderly is a historic house with an out-of-character 1970s extension. This public service building was sold on for redevelopment. Another set of luxury homes will no doubt emerge where, for over 30 years, Hampstead provided over 50 affordable care homes.
As was the case with Wells Court and New End Nurses Home in Hampstead, this could end up with no affordable home remaining on the site as a result of the redevelopment.
But it does not always have to be like that – it is possible to develop the site for market sale AND retain affordable flats! We are looking to emulate the successful example of just such a development - an ex-psychiatric hospital housed in a Grade ll Listed Building, St Clement’s in Mile End. This redevelopment by Linden Homes in partnership with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Peabody Trust is nearing completion. It provides over 200 new homes, 35% of which are genuinely affordable and this includes 23 new London CLT homes. More about London CLT here
Our campaign for an alternative Branch Hill re-development would provide 23 new high quality homes, 45% of which would be affordable and include 7 new NW3 CLT homes.
We will be following developments closely to ensure affordable housing is provided.
General view of the Rosslyn Hill front of the police station, showing the main entrance; part of the the street front of n.26 is just visible to the extreme right.
View of Downshire Hill side and rear of the police station, showing the entrance to the Magistrate Court; part of the undeveloped yard is seen through the timber gates on the extreme left.
Areal view of the existing undeveloped yard on the left and the NW3CLT proposal of the developed yard on the right.
View of the existing undeveloped internal yard above and NW3CLT proposal of the developed yard below
This is a Grade II Listed public asset, a large building of high value, previously owned by the Metropolitan Police Service. It was sold to the Department of Education (DoE) and has been empty since 2014.
We propose a mixed-use development comprising housing with the emphasis on key-worker housing, a Community space and a workspace hub. The proposal respects the Listed status of the building, ensures the retention of its key heritage features such as making use of the Magistrates Court as a Community space.
Key-worker housing, of which there is considerable shortage in Hampstead, is a particularly good use for a site like this where a large, undeveloped yard sits at the back of the Listed building. By developing the yard, we propose to create a set of new buildings with18 flats for affordable rentals. At the same time the proposal includes the refurbishment of the main listed building and a coach house in order to create 18 flats for market sale. Our proposal
NW3CLT proposal: front elevation as seen from Hampstead Highstreet and from the rear of Oriel Court
NW3CLT proposal showing the development's financing model - as seen from the front and from the rear
Wells Court on Oriel Place was owned by Camden. It was used as Sheltered Housing since 1970-s and recently decommissioned, its residents relocated to Henderson Court and elsewhere around the Borough. Camden was selling the building on the open market but making it clear they are not bound to accept the highest, or any offer.
Our proposal to Camden from January 2016 was for a community-led, architect designed housing scheme; a subtle conversion of the internal layouts to provide 19 housing units and add 2 more in a set-back rooftop extension. 70% of all units would be affordable rental flats for local people, held by NW3CLT in perpetuity. On the completion of the build our proposal would have offered around £1.7m capital receipt to Camden.
We submitted the bid to Camden Council. In February 2016 we were informed that we were not successful and in April 2016 the Council sold the building to a commercial property developer.