AUGUST 2010
Westbrook House School & Cheriton Sports Ground, Folkestone

LPP, working alongside Guy Hollaway Architects, have secured a resolution to grant planning permission, on behalf of the Roger DeHaan Charitable Trust, for the redevelopment of the Westbrook House School site and playing fields as an enabling development to fund the redevelopment and upgrade of a major sports site within central Folkestone.

The Westbrook House site would be redeveloped to provide 140 new build dwellings, 22 flats within two converted school buildings and an 80 bed nursing home. These proposals represent enabling development, to fund the upgrade of the Cheriton Road Sports Ground.  The resolution to grant outline planning permission was subject to referral to GOSE due to objections from Sport England, however confirmation has now been received that the application will not be called in and Shepway can confirm their resolution to grant planning permission.

The Cheriton Road Sports Ground has been in decline for a long time, and does not offer good quality sporting facilities. The proposals include the construction of a new state of the art pavillion building and sports hall, alongside the provision of two new all weather artificial pitches for hockey and football, three new MUGA's and two new cricket pitches. The upgrade of the site will also lead to the creation of a Centre of Excellence for Hockey and Cricket, benefiting the wider sporting community with facilities available for a range of other sports. The final development will represent one of the highest quality sporting and community facilities within Folkestone and the wider East Kent area.

St Saviour's, Walton Street

Working alongside Christopher Smallwood Architects, planning permission and listed building consent have been obtained to allow the complete re-working of this former church to provide a large single family dwelling.  The building is Grade II listed and dates back to 1840.  The works involve the extension of the basement beneath the full extent of the building, a full re-working of the interior spaces, a new bespoke spiral staircase with integrated lift shaft and a second floor glazed roof extension.

JUNE 2010
14-16 Bond Street

LPP have secured a resolution to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of a former YMCA premises in Ealing town centre to provide a mixed use development scheme.  The proposals include the conversion of an existing derelict town centre site, and the provision of extensions to the property, increasing the total available floorspace. The building will provide a mix of uses including restaurant, retail and community floorspace alongside the provision of 8 residential units to the upper storeys. Ealing Council agreed that the development would bring a key development site back into a viable use and that the range of uses would bring vitality to Bond Street. Other benefits associated with the scheme include the provision of a car club for residents, contributions towards public realm improvements and towards the improvement Walpole Park.  

MAY 2010
172 Hook Road, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

LPP have secured permission for a mixed use commercial and residential scheme at this site on Appeal, overturning the Council's previous refusal of the scheme.  The development involved converting and extending an existing building fronting Hook Road to provide commercial space at ground floor and residential above and two new houses on the land to the rear.  The Inspector agreed that the design and form would be a positive addition to the area and that the Council's requirement for outside amenity space was not justified.  The Inspector also agreed that applying the GLA 20% renewable energy requirement to the scheme was not applicable in this case.

The Elephant Parade

LPP were appointed as planning consultants to assist Elephant Parade in gaining planning consent for  258 elephants throughout London. Elephant Parade is the biggest open air public art event ever held in London. It seeks to raise money for the much endangered Asian Elephant. LPP did not charge a fee for this work but were rewarded with an elephant called ‘Patchwork' designed by the artist Soraia Almeida. Our elephant can be seen in Berkeley Square.

APRIL 2010
IMA House

LPP has secured a resolution to grant planning permission for an 8 storey mixed use building comprising 29 flats with commercial floorspace on the ground floor, replacing the former derelict IMA House building in the riverside quarter, Wandsworth.  The proposed building incorporates a contemporary approach to the design and use of materials and will assist in the on going regeneration of this part of Wandsworth.  Other major benefits associated with the scheme include a reduced level of affordable housing provided on site (8 units) through the use of the Three Dragons Toolkit Appraisal, provision of a car club space, road widening, commuted payments towards sustainable transport measures and improvements to Wandsworth Park.

MARCH 2010
53 Northfield Road

LPP has successfully overturned refusals for planning permission and listed building consent for the conversion of this Grade II Listed warehouse into 9 self-contained flats in the London Borough of Ealing. The appeal Inspector accepted LPP's argument for the change of use of the property to residential to secure the long-term future of the Listed building.  Normal development control policies were applied flexibly due to the constraints of the Listed building.  No car parking was provided in an area of limited on-street car parking and no parking controls.  Only two of the nine flats were provided with private amenity space. The Inspector accepted a Unilateral Undertaking to secure measures within a residential travel plan to help reduce car ownership, and a financial contribution towards local parks and children's playspace to off-set the shortfall in amenity space.  

FEBRUARY 2010
82-84 Battersea Rise

LPP have secured permission for the redevelopment of this site in Battersea to provide a new 3,240 sqft restaurant with 7 residential units above.  The permission was achieved against a high number of local objections and a local petition and involved careful analysis and design to resolve its relationship in very close proximity (2-3m) to surrounding residential properties.

Sun House, Camberley

LPP secured planning permission for a four and five storey mixed use development comprising a 100 bedroom Travelodge hotel with restaurant/cafe uses on the ground floor in Camberley Town Centre.  Permission was secured despite concerns from local authority officers regarding the impact of the proposed restaurant/cafe uses on existing restaurant/cafe uses in the town centre.  LPP put forward a strong case that the proposal was entirely in accordance with local and government planning policy relating to town centres and on this basis, officers recommended approval.  The local authority originally requested planning contributions towards the extension of bus stops opposite the site but LPP successfully negotiated this out of the permission on the basis that this work was not necessary in order to make the development proposal acceptable.