WESTBROOK PARTNERS Dear Residents, Neighbours and Friends, 15 March 2018 Dolphin Square: The Next 100 Years Frequently Asked Questions and Our Responses As you may be aware, we have submitted a Planning Application to Westminster City Council setting out how we plan to invest in Dolphin Square to rejuvenate it and to secure its future for The Next 100 Years. This application followed a series of meetings with residents, neighbours and other local stakeholders about our Proposals, together with two public exhibitions, in a process which started back in April 2017. Many of you attended our meetings and exhibitions and we are grateful to everyone who has taken part in our consultation, provided feedback and kept in touch. We very much appreciate the contributions to date which will help to shape the future of Dolphin Square. We want to get in touch again to make sure that the residents and neighbours of Dolphin Square are clear about our Proposals and to reaffi rm our reassurances to you. We would like to reiterate that all tenants will have the opportunity to remain as residents of Dolphin Square during construction and after completion of the works, if they wish to, but it is likely that they will need to move fl ats for a period of time during the works (see page 8 for further details). If we are successful with our Planning Application, then we do not expect to start moving residents before 2020. Our current view is that the works will take approximately 5 years to complete. Once we have an approval from the Council, which we expect in the third quarter of this year, we will be able to develop detailed construction management and sequencing plans and talk to you about how the project will affect you individually. Although there will inevitably be a period of disruption, our team have given careful consideration to how this will affect existing tenants (Open Market (around 80% of residents) and ‘Option B’ (Protected)) and how to minimise the impact. Our primary focus is to have an ongoing dialogue with all of our tenants at the Square to ensure that disruption and inconvenience are kept to an absolute minimum. Proposed new Chichester Street entrance PUBLISHED BY DOLPHIN SQUARE LIMITED, CHICHESTER STREET, LONDON SW1V 3LX 1 Starting last month, we have commenced individual discussions with tenants and we are aware that some residents (both Open Market and Option B) have a complex set of needs that will need to be addressed. These ongoing conversations will ensure that we are fully aware of individuals’ circumstances and how we can best assist them throughout the life of the project. We remain committed to continuing to talk to all of you about our plans throughout the planning and construction process and we have set out below our answers to some ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ about our Proposals and a number of matters which have been raised during the planning consultation process so far. Although we have now formally made the Planning Application, our Proposals remain subject to receiving the consent of Westminster City Council, detailed interior design and construction management planning and all of the conditions which will be imposed by the Council when they grant us Planning Permission. A copy of the full Planning Application (with all supporting documentation) can be found on Westminster’s website www.westminster.gov.uk/planning . The reference for our Planning Application is: 18/01099/FULL. If you would like any further information about the Proposals, please contact us on 020 3900 3676 or via email at [email protected] and we will be happy to discuss with you in further detail. Please also visit our website www.dolphinsquare.co.uk/future-planning Yours sincerely, Mark Donnor David Collard Managing Principal, Westbrook Partners Managing Principal, Westbrook Partners Proposed new Chichester Street entrance PUBLISHED BY DOLPHIN SQUARE LIMITED, CHICHESTER STREET, LONDON SW1V 3LX 2 Frequently Asked Questions and Our Responses History of the Estate • Dolphin Square was designed by Gordon Jeeves, built by Costain, and completed in 1938 • It was originally conceived as a novel and inclusive way of living in Central London for people who wanted to live close to their work • For 80 years, Dolphin Square has attracted a diverse range of residents, from actors, taxi drivers and military personnel to business people, barristers and MPs • In 2006, investment funds managed by Westbrook Partners acquired a 28-year lease of the Square from Westminster City Council and the Dolphin Square Trust • £120 million of the sale proceeds were used to establish The Dolphin Square Charitable Foundation, an independent charitable foundation which to date has provided over 600 affordable homes across nine London boroughs, with a further 200 under construction Dolphin Square Today • Dolphin Square is managed by Dolphin Square Limited’s dedicated on-site team of over 180 people who look after all aspects of the Estate: lettings, serviced apartments, spa, fi tness club and swimming pool, restaurant and shops, as well as providing maintenance and cleaning services for the residents • Dolphin Square Limited is led by our General Manager, Neil Miller-Chalk, who has been involved with Dolphin Square for over 20 years, fi rstly with the Dolphin Square Trust, and since 2006, with Westbrook Partners • The Square is consistently 95% occupied with 60% of tenants being singles and sharers and young professionals • Tenants are attracted by the single ownership, sense of community, 24-hour security, fi nancially accessible rents, the central location and the onsite professional management team • Of the 1,106 existing residential fl ats, around 80% are rented on AST tenancy agreements on Open Market terms, with the remaining fl ats being let to ‘Option B’ (Protected Tenants), who are entitled to below-market rents on their fl ats until their tenancies expire in 2034 • The rights of the Option B tenants under their tenancies are protected by a charitable company, Dolphin Square 2005 Limited (DS2005), which was set up in 2005 (at the time of the sale of the leasehold to Westbrook) www.dolphinsquare2005.co.uk • The Blue Dolphin Tenants Association is a tenant-led organisation which represents all residents at the Estate (www.twitter.com/DSTenants?lang=en) • The average stay at the Square is two years, although some residents have lived here for over 40 years PUBLISHED BY DOLPHIN SQUARE LIMITED, CHICHESTER STREET, LONDON SW1V 3LX 3 Why does • Since 2006 we have invested over £40 million in a comprehensive Dolphin Square maintenance and improvement programme need refurbishment? • However, at 80 years old, much of the fabric and structure of the building is out of date and in need of significant investment to secure the future of the Estate for the Next 100 Years • In 2015, we acquired the freehold of the Square from Friends Life, and now that we own the whole Estate we are ready to commit to a further significant capital investment in the fabric of the buildings and Garden • The required level of further investment is projected to be around £400 million • The plan is to renew over 7000 windows, the lifts, roofs, pipes and wiring across the Estate What do your Proposals • In order to partly finance the comprehensive refurbishment of the existing for the Estate involve? Square, we plan to build 189 additional homes, together with 81 additional serviced apartments • Rodney House (serviced apartments) will be demolished and replaced with a taller building to create an additional 78 residential flats and increasing the serviced apartments from 124 to 201 • The new Rodney House will also contain new and improved retail facilities • Roof top extensions will be added to the main residential buildings (as a tenth floor) to provide 68 additional flats • A row of 16 townhouses will be built on the Western Carriageway with landscape improvements • Rehousing the existing leisure facilities (Swimming Pool and Fitness Club) beneath the new Rodney House to extend the existing Garden Will the new buildings • We have hired the award-winning architectural practice of be in keeping with Eric Parry Architects to design a beautiful scheme in a similar style and the character of materials to the existing buildings (www.ericparryarchitects.co.uk) Dolphin Square? • Eric Parry has been personally leading the project, alongside Robert Dawson and Guy Parkinson • We believe that EPA’s designs complete Gordon Jeeves’ original vision for the Square and will radically enhance the aesthetic appearance of the buildings and Garden • EPA’s other recent projects in Westminster include the restoration of St Martin-in-the-Fields, One Eagle Place, 23 Saville Row, 50 New Bond Street and 7-8 St. James’ Square Is Dolphin Square a • No - Dolphin Square is not a listed building listed building? • Historic England were approached in 2017 with a request to list the Estate and it was turned down (a similar application in 2005 was also unsuccessful) • In early 2018, we applied to the Secretary of State for Culture for a Certificate of Immunity from Listing PUBLISHED BY DOLPHIN SQUARE LIMITED, CHICHESTER STREET, LONDON SW1V 3LX 4 But isn’t Dolphin Square • Yes - Dolphin Square is the main contributor to the Dolphin Square a Conservation Area? Conservation Area and as such, this means that we can make changes, but changes must be made very sensitively • It does not mean that the buildings and Garden cannot be altered, extended or enhanced • We believe that Dolphin Square is sufficiently robust to accept change within its well-established character. We believe our Proposals will better reveal the Conservation Area, particularly by increasing visibility and access to the landscaping • We are being advised on conservation matters by the leading heritage consultant, Richard Coleman, and his team at City Designer (www.citydesigner.com) • Richard was Deputy Secretary for 13 years of the Royal Fine Art Commission (the precursor to the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) where he developed unique skills in the field of architecture, urban design and conservation.