New Builds on Sydenham High Street

[butters]

Now the scaffolding has come off I was pleased to see they have attempted to keep with the style of the high street with the roof. However I see the scummy Acorn agency are pimping these flats out

http://www.acornnewhomes.co.uk/property ... 1663/#tabs

385K! for a one bedroom flat with no separate kitchen/diner. No garden. And i assume this is the price for the apartments that dont even have a balcony so they must be more. And to live above the kebab shop on a busy high street in zone 3.

Absolutely shameful. You would need at least 30k deposit for one of these, god knows what the mortgage payments would be.

[JayB]

But buyers could get to live "in Sydenham, one of South East London's most vibrant hotspots" LOL. Estate agents, parasites we can all do without.

[leenewham]

I think Donald said:

These are the best apartments. Believe me. Believe me. The best apartments. Best. No-one tweets about the best apartments like me. I have all the best words. They are coveffe. Straight. Not crooked like crooked Hillary Clinton. They are world class, the best looking apartments. Like me, I'm a good looking guy. Believe me.

[TredownMan]

they look really good, as do the ones behind the high street. a good example of how a contemporary design can be in keeping with a historic high street.

[stuart]

they look really good, as do the ones behind the high street. a good example of how a contemporary design can be in keeping with a historic high street.

Oh - how I disagree. Conforming with rather than being challenged by the surroundings is the definition of uninspiring. There are places in Belgium where the Planning Regs appear to be "you can have any design - as long as it isn't the one next door". The results are delightful.

Here is an example (the first one in the video) of a radical design dropped into the most conventional and straitlaced environments in North London. Oh how we could have that in Sydenham. The Orb is the sole recent attempt to be different and I note ironically this is where Acorn chose to live - not Zanara Court which they want to dump on others.

https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/home ... 15536.html

Stuart

[Parker1970]

I think Donald said:

These are the best apartments. Believe me. Believe me. The best apartments. Best. No-one tweets about the best apartments like me. I have all the best words. They are coveffe. Straight. Not crooked like crooked Hillary Clinton. They are world class, the best looking apartments. Like me, I'm a good looking guy. Believe me.

Am I the only one who heard Trump's voice reading this in their head?

Well Played Lee, Well Played indeed.

[stuart]

Yes, buildings benefit from coherence and the architect here deliberately breaks uniformity by having that crescendo roof lower down. The 'third' bit which we both have a problem with - is because of a third party copy that failed. Done on the cheap perhaps?

The postcard also appears to show a natural break in this design just where Zanara Court starts. So whatever design went there wouldn't be damaging the original concept. Do you have a problem with the Orb (apart from the issue of keeping the whitewash crisp)?

Do you think in the example I gave - a copy of the houses next door would have been better or worse?

Stuart

[mosy]

I'm sure leenewham and others would agree with me that Zanara Court would have been terrible if the developers had been allowed to clad the frontage with large panels, per earlier discussion re original planning drawings, before the council I assume insisted on bricks. It is still a poor imitation, but definitely could have been worse given an extra floor has been squeezed into the height - it could have been another eight-floor box.

The Orb is different as it's in its own space, relatively speaking, not a terrace continuation. A rather nice "arty" building like that would look daft in a terrace with no gap either side, plus I doubt it would have anything like the density that the councils now require per Government policy, e.g. P Hammond's budget speech to leave nice villages alone and build high density housing near stations "where people want them".) It's also depressing that the Orb retail space had no takers before Acorn when we all had such high hopes for a distinctive unit.

[leenewham]

I generally agree with you Mosy but not with the second paragraph. I'd say it depends on the design. Good architecture responds to its surroundings, and it can do that in many different ways.

As to the new building, I'm fine with it. It's not groundbreaking and a lot of how it will look depends on what happens with the retail. It looks like it belongs in the space at present. I'm all for cutting-edge architecture and agree with Stuart on the Belgian approach and Alain de Botton's similar thoughts on architecture.

I like the Orb, but it looked so much better on the drawings and Acorn have been very clumsy in the way they added their signage.

[mosy]

Truth be told, people will mostly notice only whatever's eventually in the retail outlets since Zanara Court is sufficiently in keeping not to make it stick out like a sore thumb.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for new and even outlandish architecture - in the right place. (Do people really want Sydenham to look as if it's locked in a Victorian time warp?) However, if the new "new" now means going back to 1960's high density concrete blocks, roll on The Greyhound so I can cry into my beer. The Belgian example is unlikely to take hold in inner cities here in the current housing shortage crisis as every inch of floor space will be turned into income-earning footage. In that respect, the balconies seem an unexpected extravagance, not that anyone would want to sit out breathing in traffic fumes.

On signage of the new retail units, would it be worth reminding the council that Syd. Rd. has signage rules (that the council is supposed to enforce) and politely suggest they remind the new owners/lessees of same, i.e. before signs are ordered and placed?

[leenewham]

1 (Do people really want Sydenham to look as if it's locked in a Victorian time warp?)

2 On signage of the new retail units, would it be worth reminding the council that Syd. Rd. has signage rules (that the council is supposed to enforce) and politely suggest they remind the new owners/lessees of same, i.e. before signs are ordered and placed?

1 Yes, I'd LOVE it. If it did it would look amazing and be different from every other high street for miles. It would be a real destination.

2. To clarify, Sydenham Road doesn't have specific rules for signage (this implies that they are only for Sydenham Road). The conservation area covers various parts of the high street (and not all of it including the Naborhood Centre, but it does include the new building and Superdrug). In practice little is enforced and much comes down to the opinion of the particular officer. The rules are also fairly broad, much is allowed under permitted development. Sainbury's, Acorn, and large chunks of the high street are in a conservation area, but they just do their normal signs. It doesn't really change anything unless they are forced to. The best way is to badger the landlords to ensure their units look really good. It's untrue that back lit signs etc aren't allowed in conservation areas. It depends on the officer in charge.

There is no information online other than the map showing how the conservation area applies to Sydenham Road. There is information on the Thorpes but it hasn't been updated to include the extended area including the high street and what it means for the shops. And here lies part of the problem: shops don't know what it means, what it entails or how it affects them and officers probably don't have any information as to how to enforce the rules or what these rules are.

[mosy]

[quote="leenewham"]
I asked: "(Do people really want Sydenham to look as if it's locked in a Victorian time warp?)"
You replied: "Yes, I'd LOVE it. If it did it would look amazing and be different from every other high street for miles. It would be a real destination."

Perhaps, but how do you airbrush out the TFL nose-to-tail through-route traffic? You've got me imagining I'm hearing clippety clop...

Thanks very much for the info. I knew the rules weren't just for Sydenham Rd but didn't realise how vague they were.

[leenewham]

It doesn't include horse and carts Mosy! Just the buildings and shop fronts.

[The Clown]

Some very useful info here.

Happy to badger landlords if someone makes it easy enough to do so (who + draft and where to send)

We undervalue what great and good we have on the High St by it still looking a bit tatty despite pavement improvements.

(Insert short rant about cheap goods on pavements and selling mobile phone accessories - looks awful)

Also who at the council can help make it clearer ref signage and enforce?

Our high st could and should be doing so much better.

[Tim Lund]

I'm curious to know whether anyone else has an issue with this development being done by a Guernsey registered company



Source here

[Pat Trembath]

The original owners were registered in Guernsey. The site was bought out and is being developed by a UK company - Zanara.

[Tim Lund]

Know anything about the terms of the onward sale, and persons of influence in the two companies involved, Pat?

[Pat Trembath]

Along with others, on several occasions I have met a number of the owners of the abandoned Nickells site over the past eight years or so, as well as a number of architects who have tried to design a development suited to Sydenham Road's core shopping area, bearing in mind that it is also in a Conservation Area.

I know nothing of the onward terms of sale between the various owners, and why should I as this would be a confidential matter between the parties?

It's an extremely difficult site and I think the result which has recently come out from under the wraps certainly improves the look of the high street.

And, no, I do not know how the marketing of the retail unit/s is going....

[Pally]

I agree Pat it is a development that fits in well and a great improvement on some developments I have seen in various places, not just Sydenham!

[Likelife]

I'm curious to know whether anyone else has an issue with this development being done by a Guernsey registered company

No, not really. If the UK wants to crack down on tax avoidance it shouldn't allow its Overseas Territories and Crown Depdenances be Tax Havens. I can't blame someone for registering on different British soil to pay less tax. Is that morally wrong? Maybe. Would I be inclined to live in the tropical Caymans instead of cold England? Maybe. Is the Government going to force change anytime soon? No.

Talking about new builds, wasn't there talk of doing something with Connaught Leisure?