Two Major Fulham Housing Schemes Set for Further Delay

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Seven years and counting for Sands End and Clement Attlee estate projects

Artist's impression of building planned for Edith Summerskill House site.

Two major housing redevelopments in Fulham that were originally planned in 2013 have been beset by more delays and rising costs.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council and Stanhope Plc’s plans to redevelop Watermeadow Court and Edith Summerskill House on the Clement Attlee estate, under a joint venture, have both been pushed back once again.

During a cabinet meeting on Monday (May 11) that was held over Zoom, it was announced that Stanhope had withdrawn from redeveloping Watermeadow House in Sands End.

The Edith Summerskill scheme has been sent back to the drawing board after a planning application to build a 20-storey tower was quashed at a court appeal in October 2019.

It means the Labour-run council will have free reign to revise the plans at both sites. But this could entail millions in extra costs, and further delay the completion of both schemes.

Terminating Stanhope’s role in redeveloping Watermeadow Court will cost the council £3.49 million, though it said this had been negotiated down from £5 million.

Watermeadow Court – formerly a block of 80 social-rent and leasehold flats, was emptied in 2013 while the Conservatives ran the council. It was demolished in November 2019 and was due to be replaced by a new block of 218 homes, though with only 36 at “affordable” and “social” rents.

Monday’s cabinet meeting confirmed that a further £526,000 had been budgeted for the Watermeadow Court site. This will pay for 12 months of 24/7 security, clearing fly-tipped waste and pigeon excrement, and legal fees.

This comes after an announcement in June 2018, that an additional £563,000 was needed for security and maintenance costs at Watermeadow.

Despite the years of waiting, council leader Stephen Cowan said on Monday that the change of circumstances will allow the council to build more “genuinely affordable housing”. He said Watermeadow Court was “a dreadful scheme when we inherited it” from the Conservative administration.

Councillor Andrew Jones, cabinet member for the economy, said: “This is good news… this will enable us to significantly increase the proportion of genuinely affordable housing across the sites.”

Meanwhile, Edith Summerskill House comprised 68 social-rent flats until it was demolished in late 2017. It was due to be rebuilt as a 20-storey building with 133 new flats, all as either social or “intermediate” housing. But the council now plans to submit a new planning application.

A council report on the Edith Summerskill scheme said: “In the event that a new planning permission is granted the site will be transferred to Peabody Housing Trust [a housing association] and is expected to deliver 133 affordable homes.”

The report also explained that Stanhope backed out of the Watermeadow Court scheme “due to a range of factors including market conditions, build cost inflation, suppressed sales values and increased CIL due to the delay in issuing planning permission”.

 

Owen Sheppard - Local Democracy Reporter

May 13, 2020