By Richard Waite. First published in Architects Journal 20/08/24: Howells behind plans to convert Seifert’s Croydon tower into flats (architectsjournal.co.uk)
The 24-storey office block at 12-16 Addiscombe Road, next to East Croydon station, opened in 1970 as the headquarters of Noble Lowndes Anninuities (NLA). It is also known as No 1 Croydon as well as the 50p or Thrupenny Bit building
Under the proposals, the building will house 250 self-contained flats, ranging in size from 38m² to 73m². The number of homes on each floor will vary from between 10 to 12. No external alterations are proposed to the tower.
In 2013 Historic England (then English Heritage) rejected a bid from the Twentieth Century Society to award Grade II-listed status to the building on architecture and planning grounds.
At the time, the government’s heritage watchdog said the building had been ‘very carefully considered against Seifert and Partners’ body of work, as well as in comparison with other contemporary office blocks and did not meet the necessarily strict criteria of special interest required for post-war buildings’.
A spokesperson added: ‘The design lacks the sophistication of Seifert’s best projects and the poor quality integrally designed landscaping detracts from the value of the whole scheme.’
A prior approval notice for the change of use was submitted to Croydon Council on behalf of Britel Fund Trustees last month.
Permitted development rules allowing homes to be built in former commercial premises have proved controversial in the past, prompting calls the policy had been responsible for creating ‘slums of the future’.
In 2014, Croydon Council introduced a ban on permitted development schemes in the borough after a slew of office-to-resi conversions. That block has now expired.
Howells has been contacted for comment.
Comment
Colm Lacey, managing director of Soft Cities and former chief executive of Croydon Council’s housing developer Brick By Brick
At first glance, the proposals for the NLA tower look like an interesting conversion of a much loved local landmark, with the majority of the flats meeting minimum space standards and presenting a workable domestic layout. There remain some issues – not least the apparent absence of affordable housing tenures and the perennial office-to-resi challenge of multiple single aspect units.
The scheme raises an interesting question as to whether decent quality permitted develeopments (PD) conversions offer more security for the architectural integrity of office buildings in Outer London than their more commercially perilous extant uses. In this case it should be noted that the unfortunate ground floor extension which blights the otherwise original composition is a wholly commercial retail addition.
Croydon has suffered badly from extremely poor quality PD conversions in the past, and at present the quality (and tenure mix) of such developments remains driven by developer sentiment rather than regulatory policy. One would hope that the current planning reform process might begin to tackle the need for a simple, workable policy which enables the right kind of office-to-resi (and retail-to-resi) conversion. ‘