Archway Campus – Plan B details awaited

Readers will recall the plans for the Archway Campus site at the bottom of Highgate Hill, which included a 32 storey tower. The developer Seven Capital responded to comments and objections by reducing slightly the height of the tower to 28 storeys. However, interestingly there is now a second alternative for the site which does not include the tower. It delivers slightly less housing, but does so without including the tower. This revised alternative is known as Plan B, while the original scheme, with the slightly shorter tower is known as Plan A.

 

The site has been vacant for too long and needs to be developed. Housing is certainly needed but we believe it must provide good quality accommodation and public places where people will be proud to live. Details of Plan B are awaited and Seven Capital is also planning a further round of consultation in the next few weeks. Details will be posted on our website as soon as available, which we hope will

 be in the next one to two weeks. Details of Plan A (before the height reduction) are in this link.

 

We understand the developer intends to submit both Plans A and B for planning permission. It is unclear why he would want to go to the considerable expense of making applications for two different schemes and so we must be aware of the risks that Plan B is a diversion and that Plan A remains the developers preferred outcome. There is also a risk that Islington will approve Plan A but not approve Plan B, given their heavy focus on housing numbers rather than quality.