The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is looking to introduce new restrictions on the development of so-called “super prime” homes from amalgamating multiple existing properties into a single unit.

It is consulting on a new planning policy that would further restrict rules on knocking down walls or building tunnels between properties to create larger homes in the interests of better meeting its government-set housing targets.

In 2019, the borough – one of the wealthiest in the UK – introduced a new policy of “resisting” the combination of more than two separate properties, and stipulated that the largest an amalgamated new home could be was 170sq m. The council told Building Design that since 2018 it had received 276 requests to amalgamate properties, of which just 77 had been granted.

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