Planning inspector overturns Croydon Council rejection aimed at protecting Seifert landmark
Squire & Partners has won planning permission for a 28-storey co-living development in Croydon that was originally rejected by the local planning authority because of its impact on Richard Seifert’s nearby NLA Tower.
The Squires scheme was created for developers Fifth State and Wittington Investments and will replace the five-storey Citylink House office building on Addiscombe Road, east Croydon.
It will deliver 498 shared-living units and 84 on-site affordable homes, as well as 594sq m of space for community and commercial use.
Croydon Council planning officers had recommended the proposals, which feature a 14-storey shoulder element, for approval at a planning committee meeting in January last year. However the application was subsequently refused.
The formal notice letter, which was sent in May 2022, cited “overdevelopment” that would be harmful to the setting of the 24-storey Seifert block, completed in 1971 and now renamed No.1 Croydon – but known locally as the 50p Building.
Planning inspector Jonathon Parsons issued his decision at the end of April following a one-day appeal hearing in January.
He said the Squires development would provide a substantial amount of housing and pose “no harm” to the setting of NLA Tower, which is not nationally listed but is categorised as a non-designated heritage asset by Croydon Council.
Parsons added that “additional significant public benefits” of the scheme included the reuse of a brownfield site and the provision of a café and community facilities.
Croydon Council’s January 2022 report to Planning Committee members said the impact of the Squires plans on the NLA Tower was considered to be “acceptable”.
Murray Levinson, a partner at Squires, said the new development had been designed as a contemporary response to the strong post-war modernist architectural language of the local area but with proportions that reflected its residential nature.
“Our proposals for Fifth State Croydon seek to deliver a crafted, contemporary mixed-use development which responds to its context and delivers high quality, sustainable community-based living with innovative co-living spaces and affordable homes,” he said.
In addition to private space, the building will feature shared kitchens, lounges, wellbeing studios, spas, cinemas, games rooms and co-working spaces.
A double-height amenity floor at the very top of the building has been designed with a “woven” structure, while a planted roof terrace sits on top of the shoulder block.
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