Design and Access Statement Whittington House 764-768 Holloway Road London N19 3JQ 18.131.2.DAS Part 1

Design and Access Statement Whittington House 764-768 Holloway Road London N19 3JQ 18.131.2.DAS Part 1 This Design Statement is one of the documents supporting the planning application for 1 new residential unit above the existing substation at Whittington House 764-768 Holloway Road. Existing The site is located at 764-768 Holloway Road. The site has a 7 story residential block set parallel to Holloway Road. The site is not in a conservation area. Holloway Road is part of the A1 road in the London Borough of Islington. The Road starts at Archway underground station, then heads south past upper Holloway railway station, past Holloway Road Underground Station and then becomes Highbury Corner near Highbury and Islington Station. Whittington House is located to the north approximately 200 meters south from Archway Underground Station and approximately 250 meters north of Upper Holloway Station. Archway is on the Northern Line providing links through central London to Merton and north out to High Barnet. Upper Holloway is on the London Overground line linking Hounslow (west) to Thamesmead (east) The site has a PTAL rating of 6b which is the highest. Directly outside the site are a number of bus stops. This proposal is to be car free. Whittington House was originally built as an office building and was converted when planning reference P2014/1165/NMA was approved on 08h April 2014 to 39 self-contained flats. The building was complete and has been fully occupied since December 2014. Site location with nearby stations and the road network. Central Saint Martin’s Archway campus Whittington House building St Gabriel’s Catholic Church with projecting clearstory light feature Existing substation roof Holloway Road The buildings opposite the site are 3 storey brick terraces (some with setback mansard roofs as well), with commercial at ground floor level and residential above. Google 3d view with adjoining buildings Existing single story substation enclosure. Existing St Gabriel’s Catholic Church with projecting clearstory roof light feature. The height of this is almost 3 stories above the finished roof of the substation Existing fire exit door from Church Existing front elevation St Gabriel‘s Catholic Church is a curved brick building with linear annexes at the side and rear elevations. The Church is locally listed. There are no windows in the brick curved elevations, instead the building is lit by hidden raised clerestory roof lights. Hidden clerestory roof light around perimeter Projecting clerestory roof light from inside The main public access to the church is on St John’s Villas the side road, the officers of the Church access from the Presbytery, also on St John’s Villas. There is a fire exit door from the church on to Holloway Road adjacent to Whittington House The boundary treatment between the Church and Projecting clerestory Whittington House is a 2.5 meter high brick wall on roof light the site of Whittington House . Whittington House is set back from the railings on Hidden clerestory the boundary line of the Church building lights around perimeter St John’s Villas Fire exit door onto Holloway Road Holloway Road Plans The existing plans below show area the new apartment will occupy in blue. Existing basement plan. Existing ground floor plan Existing first floor plan. Existing second floor plan Existing third floor plan. Existing fourth floor plan Existing fifth floor plan. Existing sixth floor plan Exterior: Whittington House elevation has a line of horizontal windows and panels in equal bays sizes which are broken vertically with blue cladding on the column positions. The panels are grey and the opening window sections in white Existing single story substation enclosure. Grey render with grey aluminum louvered doors Existing St Gabriel’s Catholic Church with projecting clearstory roof light feature. The height of this is almost 3 stories above the finished roof of the substation. Existing fire exit door from Church Existing front elevation Previous applications on the site. The most recent application was for a 4-storey side extension to the south east of Whittington House. The extension would have provided two new two bedroom marionette’s above the existing substation structure at first, second, third and fourth floors. The Islington Planning reference for that application is P2015/4617/FUL which was refused on 28th January 2016. The application was taken to The Planning Inspectorate under the reference APP/V5570/W/16/3143736. The appeal was dismissed on 11th July 2016. The Appeal Decision’s main reasons for refusal were Character and appearance and Living Conditions of the existing residence in Whittington House. The text from the decision notice are listed below: 6. Whilst of a smaller scale than the previous scheme that was dismissed at appeal1 the proposal is still of considerable scale in strong contrast to the prevailing lower-rise nature of the surrounding street scene. Critically, the proposal would bring this higher rise development much closer to St Gabriel’s Church, which the Council maintain is a locally listed structure. The single-storey electricity sub-station housing, whilst in close proximity to the church, is of a limited and subservient scale, which allows adequate breathing space between the strongly contrasting styles and forms of the adjacent buildings. The appeal scheme, by closing that gap with more substantial development would exacerbate this jarring juxtaposition of styles. Thus rather than providing a sensitive transition in scale between the church and Whittington House, the proposal’s size and proximity would merely reinforce that latter building’s dominance. 7. The implementation of a green wall on the side elevation of the appeal scheme and the host building would do little to soften its harmful effects in this regard, and would not provide a particularly sensitive backdrop to the church. For these reasons I do not consider that the green wall would deliver any significant public benefits. 8. Whilst the proposal would feature more elevational interest than Whittington House, its fenestration pattern would be a stark contrast to that of its host building, and its width discordant in terms of the rhythm imparted by Whittington House’s structural bays. The proposal would thus have something of an uncomfortable and cramped relationship with its host building, which would add to its overall incongruity. 9. Whilst the appeal scheme’s materials would not be wildly out of kilter with the host building this would do little to address the harmful effects that I have described. Consequently, the proposal would conflict with Policy DM21 of Islington’s Local Plan: Development Management Policies (adopted June 2013) (“the DM Policies”) and the National Planning Policy Framework (“the Framework”). Taken together, and amongst other things, these policies seek to ensure that new development responds to local character and history, and is sensitive to the character and appearance of its surroundings. 10. The appeal scheme would introduce a significant depth and scale of walling immediately adjacent to the habitable room windows in the first and second floors of the building. 11. In terms of the first floor, Flat 11, which would immediately adjoin the proposal, has a habitable room served by a single light window on this flank, in contrast to those above it that have larger windows with two lights. It also differs from the flats above in that the only other fenestration it has is the glazed balcony door to the rear. The balcony in this property is positioned on a flat roof of the wider building, which is screened to the rear to block out views of air conditioning equipment and other paraphernalia atop the roof. Thus the principal outlook, both from the habitable room and the balcony is toward the church and obliquely along the front street. Due to these factors, the appeal proposal would be an oppressive and enclosing structure from these viewpoints, and thus of significant harm to the outlook of the occupiers of Flat 11. 12. In terms of the second floor, whilst I acknowledge that more fenestration is present on the back wall, and that the window in the side wall is wider than that of Flat 11, the proposal due to its depth and excessive scale would be an overbearing feature in the context of this habitable room window that would be harmful to its occupiers. This new application addresses the points raised in the appeal decision in the next section of this document. Proposed The proposal is to construct a new two story side extension on the south east side Whittington House, above the existing substation. The new extension will provide a single two bedroom 3 person unit. The plan layout is shown below: Proposed first floor plan Proposed second floor plan The rear wall of the new extension at first floor will be beyond a line taken at 45 degrees from the center of apartment 11 side window, views along Holloway road will still be possible. The rear wall of the new extension at second floor will be beyond a line taken at 45 degrees from the center of apartment 17 side window, views along Holloway road will still be possible. The proposed layout will address the concerns raised in point 10, 11 and 12 of the appeal decision. The proposed extension roof is sloped towards the rear to increase light into the area directly in front of the side windows to apartments 11 and 17. Slope of new roof to resemble New extension will not be much higher than slope of adjoining Church building the main roof of the church, but lower than roof profile the projecting clearstory feature of the Church building. Apartment 17 side window Apartment 11 side window We don’t have access to photos from flat 11 and 17 side windows looking towards Holloway Road but based on the above the view would remain and be only slightly reduced.

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