950 New Homes Proposed in South Islington Estate Redevelopment

A part-detailed and part outline masterplan planning application has been submitted by applicants Newlon Housing Trust and Mount Anvil, for the wholesale redevelopment of the Barnsbury Estate in the London Borough of Islington.

The estate is set within the north London borough and is adjacent to the Regents Canal and was constructed between, the 1950s and 1970s, the site is 4.38ha (10.8 acres) and occupied by a series of buildings between 2 and 10 floors.

Across the entire estate, there are 676 homes currently on the estate, some are owned by Newlon Housing Trust tenants and private leaseholders.

The estate is well served by public transport, with Kings Cross and St Pancras International stations located half a mile to the southwest.

Overall the site ranges from a PTAL Rating ranging from 3 and 6b which is the second-best possible rating).

Ariel overview of the New Barnsbury Estate, image credit Pollard Thomas Edwards.

The planning application submitted in June 2022, is following a resident ballot where 369 residents or 72.9% of eligible residents who voted on the ballot voted yes for the proposed scheme.

The turnout saw 506 eligible residents or 72.9% vote on the ballot.

The proposed scheme will deliver 950 new homes, including the replacement of 291 social rent homes, 142 new homes for social rent, and 61 new intermediate homes.

The 80 homes with private leaseholders will also be replaced alongside 376 net additional private homes.

In this application, only plots 1a, 1b, and 3a have been submitted for detailed planning consent with a delivery period of around 10 years.

The proposed building typologies, image credit Pollard Thomas Edwards.

All parking spaces proposed for the development are for a) returning residents with existing parking permits and b) disabled users only.

A maximum of 121 vehicle spaces are proposed for the development (equating to a maximum ratio of 0.127 spaces per unit).

This marks a reprovision of spaces for existing residents wishing to retain their parking permit (within the proposed undercroft podiums) as well as accessible on-street spaces for new residents.

The existing open space is compromised of predominately fenced-off areas of mown amenity, which are not usable or accessible.

Across the estate, there is no clear understanding of public and private and the function of the space is unclear.

Comparisons in the existing and proposed open space provision, image credit landscape architects Farrer Huxley.

There are over 14,000 households on Islington’s housing register waiting to access social housing.

For the last year where data is available 1,089 properties are let which house around 7% of those 14,000 households.

Larger households and those in the greatest need often face a delay of several years before they get housed.

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