Arding and Hobbs

The Battersea Society objects strongly to the proposed amendments to the roof profile which are detrimental to the listed building and should be referred to the Wandsworth Conservation Areas Committee before any decision is taken by the Planning Applications Committee. In addition we are disappointed to see the revised tenant mix which may reduce public access to this important building.

We have consistently raised concerns about the roof profile of this building which stands prominently at the junction of four roads; and which is highly visible from Clapham Junction station. Our letter in relation to 2020/3421 refers and is appended. Our detailed comments on this application are as follow:

Amendments to roof exterior Design Amendments Rooftop Plant and Maintenance Access.  To accommodate the MEP requirements on the Site, additional rooftop ductwork has been introduced, as part of this additional raised metal gantries have been added to allow safe access.  

 Lift Overrun. The overall height of the lift overrun has been increased by approximately 300mm to allow for a suitable maintenance zone over the lift carline to meet statutory and technical requirements.  We consider these forced amendments extremely unfortunate and totally compromising to the original design concept of the inverted hoop roof structure. The additional structures give an unstructured, disjointed skyline totally antipathetic to the strong original building lines and decoration. Why were these constraints not recognised earlier and plans for the new roof structure designed to shield them appropriately? The proposed outcome is messy and we trust mitigating proposals to ameliorate the impact of the changes will be submitted. 

Land Use Mix We are disappointed at the amendments to the Land Use Mix and have concerns that the proposed changes to tenant usage of the basement and ground floor will significantly change the character of the public retail offer. We had welcomed the plans to provide an attractive focal point to revitalise this part of Battersea at Clapham Junction. The basement has now become essentially just a gym area with a small cafe area and no retail element. This is unlikely to attract general footfall. In the consented scheme 25% of the basement and 50% of the ground floor were approved for retail. This submission reduces this to nil in the basement and only 39% on the ground floor. This must reduce the variety of outlets and thus the attractiveness of the enterprise as an interesting venue for small traders and, potentially, a quirky place for drop in customers, something we saw as a major benefit of the original proposals. Likewise overall the floor space for food / beverage outlets is reduced although the area at ground level has been slightly increased. No clear justification is given for these changes which will limit access of the general public to the building, especially the basement area. We note that there are at least three existing gyms within a five minute walk of the building and we have already registered concern over the quantity of similar offerings within the area when commenting on proposals from other developers.

We are supportive of much that this applicant is doing and very much hope that the roof design can be improved and that our concerns about the overall appeal of the offers within the building will prove unfounded.