HWA visits redevelopment proposals exhibition for Orione House in Station Road
Friday 13th July 2018
The HWA has been invited by PRC Architecture and Planning to “attend and inform our members” of the redevelopment proposals for Orione House which were exhibited on Wednesday 11th July at Sons of Divine Providence, 13 Lower Teddington Road from 4pm – 8pm. It is a shame that the consultation was for such a short period of time and we are aware of members who were unable to attend in during these hours.
The HWA Planning Officer attended the exhibition and his comments can be read below.
1. Only selected elevations were shown, others were omitted.
2. The drawings were light on information to enable a comparison to be made with the existing building. One might expect there to be dashed lines to represent the outline of the existing to enable comparison of bulk.
3. The drawings seemed somewhat undeveloped in that there was little detail about items such as ‘public space’. There were no details about the upper floors. It is felt that the shape of the building may need to change when the details are fully thought through. Some items shown in elevation weren’t there in the plan, e.g. dormers.
4. The architectural style has hints of Lutyens about it (think Hampstead Garden Suburb) but dumbed down. However the balconies were curiously modern. It’s arguably not in the Hampton Wick vernacular but maybe this matters little as there’s such a variety of styles along Station Road anyway. Superficially it’s quite pleasing and, ultimately, it depends on how well detailed it is.
5. Possibly our biggest criticism of the scheme is that it seems excessive at the expense of its neighbours. The developers appear to be proposing a pleasant walled garden – there are certainly some nice mood images of old walled gardens in the exhibition. However to do this they build out as far as they possibly can on the plot. That means that Seymour Lodge will now be overlooked by the new flats (bear in mind it’s three storeys), with consequential loss of privacy. It’s possible the Seymour Lodge residents will be unhappy at that. Additionally, the new building extends as far towards Seymour Road (i.e. to the west) as it physically can-almost to the extent of being a new party wall. There may only be some lock-ups there at the moment but who knows what could be done here if not limited by a substantial new building right on its boundary, presumably with a high blank wall.
Our understanding is that the ‘pre-app’ meeting with LBRuT Planning Department hasn’t yet taken place.
The HWA will be forwarding our comments to the planning department at Richmond council.