Empiric Student Property is likely to get plans for a redevelopment project in north London rubber-stamped by planning officials later today.
Camden Council’s planning committee is recommended to approve the demolition of Empiric’s Francis Gardner Apartments in Kilburn, NW6, and the development of a larger, seven-storey building with 88 bedrooms.
The new building will include studio flats as well as two-, three- and four-bed flats with shared kitchens and living facilities. A lower ground floor will include a gym. Empiric has committed to providing affordable accommodation in the new building, calculated at 33% of the uplift in floorspace.
Empiric bought Francis Gardner Apartments – then known as Francis Gardner Hall – from CBRE Global Investors for £10.6m in 2016. The five-storey building dates back to the early 1900s and has been renovated several times over the years since, including following bomb damage during World War II. Empiric started to use it for student accommodation in 2017, with space for 70 students.
The plans have drawn criticism from local residents, with 82 objections raised and the West Hampstead Gardens Association describing last year’s consultation on the proposals, held on a single day in December, as “inadequate and poorly publicised”.
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