Council pushing ahead with 'extremely complex' social housing scheme next to railway

A deal has now been signed with a developer for the Bounds Green scheme which was first given planning permission nearly four years ago, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Proposed housing blocks next to Woodridings Court (credit Collado Collins Architects)

Haringey Council is moving forward with an “extremely complex” scheme to build 37 council homes on land nestled between a railway line and a block of flats in Bounds Green.

Yesterday (Monday 28th), Tammy Hymas, cabinet member for housing at the local authority, formally signed a deal with an as-yet unnamed “preferred contractor” to deliver the scheme on “derelict land” to the rear of Woodridings Court, near Alexandra Palace Station.

A council report authorised by Taryn Eves, corporate director of finance and resources at the council, said practical completion of the new council homes is “anticipated by early spring 2028”.

The local authority describes the site as being “located in extremely close proximity to an active Network Rail line” which has resulted in “strict limitations” on planning and building design.

Nevertheless, the council maintains that the proposed five-storey development “has been carefully designed to respect the surrounding context” including the people living in the existing 56 homes at Woodridings Court, which the new build “will adjoin to”.

Planning approval for the development on council-owned land was first granted by councillors in December 2022. The site, which has “been in disuse for over 30 years” was previously used as a car park. The plans were later amended to include four additional homes.

In its latest report, the council said: “The scheme is an extremely complex one and has evolved with considerable collaborative working both externally and within the council and the planning authority.”

While recognising the disruption the building process will cause, the council argues that the project “presents a significant opportunity to deliver 37 family council homes alongside much needed improvements for the surrounding residents”.

These include “significant improvements to the public realm, including landscaped communal gardens, informal play space, secure cycle spaces, enhanced refuse and recycling facilities”.

The development will consist of a mixture of one, two and three-bedroom flats and include three wheelchair accessible homes. The local authority says the scheme has also been “designed around the inclusion of energy sustainable features such as air-source heat pumps and solar panels”.

The council says the development will be largely “manufactured off site” in a bid to “ensure best value for the project and the best, and least disruptive, outcome for the existing residents at Woodridings Court”.

It is set to be built using a modular “volumetric” construction process that will see the “production of four-dimensional units in controlled factory conditions prior to final installation”.

Progress on the scheme hit a bump in the road last year when the only bid received for its construction “significantly exceeded the council’s available budget”. In April, the local authority launched a new tendering process “to secure greater market engagement”.

The relaunched tender, which ended in June, has resulted in “the highest-scoring” bid being selected by the council on the basis of being the “most economically advantageous”. Which construction firm has been selected – and how much the deal will cost the local authority – has not yet been made public.

The council says that, prior to the redevelopment process, the site had been associated with “a number of issues, including underutilised space, poor environmental quality, antisocial behaviour and limited accessibility”.

It argues that the new scheme “will address these challenges by improving the public realm, providing secure refuse and recycling storage, enhancing landscaping, and increasing natural surveillance to deter antisocial behaviour”.

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