On balance, I welcome it, although seven flats are quite a lot to be squeezing onto this space, and I think it might exceed London Plan density limits. However, there is discretion in the application of these limits, and I think we have to accept higher densities, and, within limits, I would welcome them. For reference, the planning application is here on line.
It's also nice that they have retained the original front, but there have to be costs to this. First, by not allowing increased height, the developers have had to grab some garden to get in all these flats. Given that, for all people's environmental talk, most people aren't that interested in maintaining private gardens, I can't see that this is an overwhelming cost, but it's a shame. More significantly, working with these traditional materials must add to the cost. It's the point I made on the 'Let's all drive vintage cars' thread. New build might well have a bad reputation, but why?