But off site affordable housing payment not ‘maximum viable contribution’, says GLA
Hackney council has approved developer HUB’s 490-home co-living scheme.
Designed by architects AHMM, the redevelopment of Finsgate House next to Old Street Station will turn three office blocks into two buildings of 35 and five storeys.
The taller one will provide the housing while the shorter one will have around 4,000 sqm of workspace, including 10% affordable workspace for SME firms, as well as a community centre on the ground floor for local groups and activities.
Despite providing no affordable homes on site, Hackney officers accepted an £18.2m payment towards affordable housing, including social rented homes, elsewhere in the borough. However the Greater London Authority did not consider this to be the “maximum viable contribution”.
Damien Sharkey, managing director at HUB, said: “This decision is a major step forward for our ultra-urban co-living strategy, and reinforces our conviction that this type of housing can be transformational for central London.”
The developer’s ultra-urban living portfolio aims to repurpose assets to save embodied carbon, such as in the case of Cornerstone, another office-to-co-living conversion next to London’s Barbican estate.
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