Plans have been submitted for a new block of eight flats by Surrey Water in Rotherhithe.
The part-four, part-five storey block would have four flats for shared ownership, two for social rent and two for ‘intermediate’ rent – 80 per cent of local market rates.
The social-rent flats would be one-bed and two-bed. The intermediate homes would both be one-bed. Two of the shared ownership flats would be one-bed, one would be two-bed and one would be three-bed.
Plans for the new block have been submitted by the Hexagon housing association, which also owns the Katherine Close Estate, where the buildings are three storeys or lower.
The area is currently hard-standing, not green space, but does have several trees and is used by some local residents for socialising. Six established trees would be removed if Hexagon got the go-ahead to build the block. The housing association would plant nine more in their place.
The new block would be several metres higher than the other buildings it would be next to. An overshadowing and light loss model commissioned by Hexagon said that the effects on nearby homes would be within the acceptable limits set out by planning authorities.
The building has not gone before Southwark’s planning committee yet. There has been opposition from local people over the loss of the open space, and worries about the impact on car parking in the area. Like many new buildings in Southwark, the development will not include car parking spaces, but will include bike parking.
Architects BPTW said they had designed the building to keep it in character with the local area.
They said: “The proposed building has been designed to be in keeping with the scale and materiality of the immediate area, including “characteristics such as pitched roofs with gable ends, horizontal brick details, raised windows and inset balconies”.