Franchising, retail, business
20/05/2014
The Chelsea Barracks development has won the latest step in its battle for planning approval, despite having faced opposition from architectural luminaries including the Prince of Wales.
The first homes on the site – described by the developer as “ultra-luxury” – were given the go-ahead by Westminster Council on Tuesday.
The Chelsea Barracks site in central London is owned by Middle Eastern property development fund Qatari Diar. Its development has become a symbol of the tensions between old and new money, traditional architecture and modern development, since its proposal in 2008.
Qatari Diar bought the site from the Ministry of Defence for nearly £1bn in 2007, making it Britain’s most expensive residential development. The developer took the plans back to the drawing board in 2009 after a high-profile outcry; the Prince of Wales called the scheme “a gigantic experiment with the very soul of our capital city”.
The fund originally designed the scheme in partnership with Christian Candy, a developer of apartments for the global super-rich. His CPC Group later sold its stake to Qatari Diar, leaving the Gulf financiers to go it alone.
In 2010 Mr Candy settled a court case with Qatari Diar over CPC claims that the Prince of Wales had intervened with the Emir of Qatar in an attempt to mitigate the development’s proposed architectural design. The court case revealed that the prince had privately written to Qatari Diar chairman and Qatari royal prince Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani to criticise the “brutalist development”.
CPC had alleged that the intervention resulted in the withdrawal of the original scheme by Qatari Diar.
The prince was criticised by architects for using “inappropriate behind the scenes methods” to influence the property developers.
In settling the case, CPC “apologised unreservedly” to the prince.
Westminster Council approved Qatari Diar’s revised broad-brush vision for the site in 2011 but the plans were subsequently put on ice as the UK economy stagnated, before being revived when demolition began at the barracks late last year.
The first phase of the development, approved on Tuesday, involves three blocks of 74 apartments designed by Squire and Partners, according to the Qataris’ development company for the site, Project Blue Limited.
The plans aim to “reflect London’s architectural traditions”, the developer said.
The MoD had originally intended that half the homes built on the site would be affordable; the current plans involve 123 affordable homes – 27 per cent of the total.
London mayor Boris Johnson supported the proposals, saying: “I am pleased that Westminster City Council has granted permission for the redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks. This scheme will create new homes and jobs for the capital.”
By: ft.com
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