Development – Appraisals, Delivery Plans, Development Management, Partnerships and Regen Cos

Heritage & Listed Buildings

Site Specific Viability Assessments (VAs) for S106

Valuation

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Background

We were retained by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to undertake a commercial review of the developer’s viability evidence to support their application for conversion of this Grade II* listed chapel to residential.

The Chapel forms part of the ‘The Brompton’s’ gated community development of the former Brompton hospital site.  The original Brompton’s development was for the conversion and new build to provide 60 residential units. This was granted consent subject to a S106 agreement which required the repair of the Chapel and the right of access by the residents.  The Brompton’s has been completed and the flats have resold for between £1.7 million to £10.5 million.

Challenge

The challenge was that the developer was now claiming that the existing community use was not viable – or at least it is not viable to repair the Chapel – and the proposal was to convert and extend the existing chapel into a three-bedroomed dwelling house worth approximately £15 million.

We reviewed the developer’s viability evidence including the viability of continuing the use as a private chapel and an assessment of the alternative uses.  We referred to Historic England’s guidance on enabling development and the requirement that this is the minimum to conserve the listed building. 

Outcome

We added significant value for the Council by demonstrating that the applicant had not established a coherent rationale for why St Luke’s chapel has not or could not be adequately maintained for the residents and public in accordance with the original Brompton’s planning consent and concluded that there was insufficient viability case to approve the planning application.

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