Plans for a six-storey block of flats at the site of a fatal fire have been approved.
Last Thursday (February 15), Camden Council’s planning committee voted in favour of proposals which would see 14 new flats, including affordable homes, built at 31 Daleham Gardens in Hampstead.
The council was the freehold owner of the former apartment building on the site when it was badly damaged in a 2017 blaze that claimed the life of Magdalena Fink.
The authority pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches last year, and ownership of the site now lies with NW3 Community Land Trust (CLT).
Under the approved plans, eight of the 14 new flats would be affordable homes, subsidised by the open market sale of the remaining six.
The proposed development was supported by Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq despite a number of objections, including one from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.
In a written intervention by its chief executive, the trust raised concerns about the “scale” of the proposed development due to its proximity to a nearby specialist school.
Gloucester House School, which is run by the trust, has 21 pupils with special social, emotional and mental health needs.
The trust claimed it feared the new building – which is two floors higher than the one demolished in 2021 – would result in a “loss of privacy” for students.
Planning officers said disruption to children would mainly be during construction, while the problem of overlooking was largely mitigated by obscured glazing on most of the windows looking towards the school.
Committee chair Cllr Heather Johnson added that unless the site was left “empty forever”, there will eventually have to be some construction that could impact the school.
Councillors ultimately voted in favour of the plans, and NW3 CLT director Sanya Polescuk said she is “delighted” by the outcome.
She claimed it was the first time Camden had engaged in this kind of "innovative model" of affordable housing delivery.
Ms Polescuk added: “We came into being to stop the exodus of people who could no longer afford to live in our area as it was becoming too expensive.
“We wanted to show that affordable housing needn’t be a misnomer in areas with high house prices.”
A spokesperson for the CLT said there was not yet a firm date for when works on the development would commence.
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