Stonegrove
Stonegrove and Spur Road Estates (Stonegrove) are situated on the edge of the green belt at the very northern edge of the London Borough of Barnet, close to Stanmore tube station and adjoining the London Borough of Harrow. The estates were built in the 60’s & 70’s, and comprise of a mixture of 11 storey tower blocks and four storey maisonette blocks. Due to the poor state of repair of the buildings and their high energy costs the Council resolved to regenerate the estates in order to provide modern homes, and take the opportunity to reconnect this 11.5 hectare site with the surrounding community, and the existing landscape and trees.
Stonegrove is surrounded by traditional suburban housing to the east, west and south, and to the north lies the green belt. The estate exhibited many of the issues associated with post war public housing including poor access and parking arrangements and was deemed not suitable for improvement.
The Vision
The current estates are made up of 603 homes with a combination of one to three bedroom flats and maisonettes distributed across medium and low rise blocks. The vision for the regeneration of Stonegrove is to create a new revitalised, attractive, vibrant and sustainable new neighbourhood. On completion of the regeneration programme, all 603 properties will have been demolished and replaced by a new, balanced community. There will be a series of linked, mix tenure areas with a range of different household sizes, which will be attractive to both existing and new residents alike. There will be a safe, well defined and attractive public realm.
There will be 937 new homes, about a third of which will be for rent, half for sale and the remainder for low-cost home ownership. All the new homes will be designed and built to high standards. The aim of the regeneration is to provide new high quality suburban homes to meet the Decent Homes Standard (external link) and transform the estate into a vibrant neighbourhood which is in keeping with its suburban environment on the edge of greenbelt countryside.
This vision has ten strands:
1. An exciting tenure blind scheme to achieve an economically, socially and demographically balanced community;
2. A development which is fully integrated with existing neighbouring communities and the new London Academy; (external link)
3. A new quarter that mediates between the open space of the green belt and the surrounding suburban streets;
4. A series of neighbourhoods with a mixture of dwelling types and distinct characters, not one homogeneous estate;
5. A strong landscape infrastructure which will bind the neighbourhoods together, with a clear hierarchy of streets creating safe routes and local character;
6. A lively, accessible and permeable public realm with a range of public amenity spaces distributed throughout the development, safe and accessible for all ages;
7. An inspiring place to live with a strong sense of place which will give residents both a stake and a pride in their neighbourhood;
8. A high quality design of buildings and open spaces with long lasting, appropriate materials where car parking, while accessible, does not dominate the neighbourhood;
9. A scheme which works positively with the existing site’s topography, ecology and environment and builds on its historic features and in particular Green Lane, Stonegrove and the existing mature trees;
10. A ‘Sustainable’ community which will mature gracefully and endure in every sense; economically, socially and environmentally.
The Development
Barratt Homes (external link), in partnership with the London Borough of Barnet and Family Mosaic (external link), Housing Association, appointed Sprunt to act as executive architects to develop a masterplan for the regeneration, and to prepare a planning application. The challenge was to create and then implement the vision for the regeneration based on a comprehensive programme of site research and analysis. This resulted in a masterplan that responds to the differing boundary conditions within and around the site, and provides a series of connected but different streets, spaces and architectural styles.
The current Church, Church Hall, Parsonage and Community Centre will also be demolished and replaced. There will be new roads and open spaces, improved parking provision and improvements will also be made to the important junction between Spur Road and Green Lanes.
The Old Edgware School has already been replaced by The London Academy which has been operating since 2004. The first phase of the regeneration scheme ‘Penniwell Close’ consisted of 62 new affordable homes and was completed in 2008. It is a mixture of social rented accommodation and intermediate housing. The second phase of the development provided 117 new homes, a mixture of affordable homes and homes for private sale. This was completed and occupied in July 2010.
The third phase of the development has delivered 98 new homes including 45 for social rent, 17 intermediate and 36 for private sale. This was completed in October 2011.
To continue the regeneration of the Stonegrove and Spur Road Estates the Council decided to serve a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). This is for properties and land within the Stonegrove and Spur Road Estates regeneration master-plan. On 6 December 2011 the Council made the Order and notices were then served to all known persons who had an interest affected by the CPO on 8 December 2011. For more information please visit Barnet Compulsory Purchase Order page.
The fourth phase is due for completion in April 2012 and will deliver 67 new homes for private sale. The fifth phase is currently under construction and will be completed in March 2013. This will deliver 107 new homes for social rent.
All the new affordable homes will be owned and managed by Family Mosaic.
Stakeholders
The Council recognises the importance of engaging residents of the Stonegrove and Spur Road Estates as well as neighbours including the community at the Edgware United Synagogue, the London Academy and St Peter's Church as these are the closest stakeholders. They will be affected by almost everything that happens on Stonegrove.
Email this pageLast modified by: Ellie Wright on 09/01/2012