A car-free development is a requirement set by Camden Council and the Greater London Authority for all major schemes in well-connected parts of London. However, there will still be some parking for blue badge holders and service vehicles. 

The buildings in the Masterplan as consented by Camden Council range from 3 to 15 storeys, and the height and location of these buildings are designed to balance sunlight, site levels, and the need for new homes, public spaces, and community amenities. Taller buildings are placed in the northern areas to ensure there is plenty of sunlight for the courtyards and public spaces throughout the year. By including taller buildings, we’re able to ensure that 50% of the site is delivered as green public space, as well as delivering affordable workspace, a health centre, community amenities, transport upgrades, and much-needed housing.

Due to significant changes to building and fire safety standards, we’re proposing one-to-two additional floors across most of the buildings in Phase One. More information is available in the ‘Phase One Changes’ sections on this website.

The site is approximately 5.77 hectares – it extends from Finchley Road and the O2 Shopping Centre to West End Lane. It is also one of the most well-connected sites in terms of transport infrastructure, making it the best place to deliver the new homes that Camden and London need. 

The first phase of construction, which will be delivered on part of the car park and Homebase, will see the delivery of new rental homes, including affordable homes, new commercial space, a community centre, and a central square with a community garden. Whilst we hope to begin works on Phase One soon, we will not be in a position to confirm rental prices for a number of years yet. 

There will be no homes for sale in the first phase: any homes for sale would be delivered in later phases. 

We submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment as part of the planning application which tests the Masterplan’s impact on local infrastructure. The results have shown that there is enough capacity in local primary and secondary schools. 

We are mitigating any impact on local health services by providing for a 1,000 sqm new multidisciplinary healthcare facility with enough space for 11 GPs on site, as well as a nursery. 

Less likely. Currently, this site is dominated by materials like concrete and tarmac which do not allow good drainage, heightening the risk of flooding. To address this, we will be using greening measures like rain gardens, swales, green roofs and sustainable drainage which we’re working on in partnership with landscape and biodiversity specialists, including the London Wildlife Trust. 

Ensuring that the new neighbourhood feels safe and secure for all is a key priority for us. Implementing a robust safety and security strategy, including with regard to lighting, CCTV and management is a key priority, as well as delivering well-lit safer cycle and walking routes connecting Finchley Road and West Hampstead. The buildings and public spaces have also been designed to encourage passive safety measures such as active frontages, passive surveillance, and sight lines from apartments. 

London faces significant pressure to build more homes, with its population projected to grow by 70,000 each year, reaching 10.8 million by 2041. 

The London Plan aims to address this demand by identifying key areas for development that also have the ability to promote economic opportunities, greener communities, and health equality. The Plan identifies the Swiss Cottage / Finchley Road town centre (which extends into the West Hampstead Growth Area) as having significant potential for more homes. 

The O2 Centre Masterplan site has been identified as somewhere that can play a significant role in meeting these targets. It is located within the West Hampstead Growth Area and the Council is supportive of mixed-use developments here which deliver new housing, retail, community uses and open space. 

Camden’s Local Plan (2017) sets ambitious targets for housing delivery across the borough, aiming to exceed a target of 16,800 additional homes by 2030, including 11,130 additional self-contained homes. 

The O2 Centre site is identified as a key opportunity within the West Hampstead Growth Area. The Council is supportive of residential-led, mixed-use developments that provide housing, retail, community uses, and public open spaces. The existing car park site, identified for 950 homes, is seen as an opportunity to deliver higher housing numbers within a transformative, comprehensive masterplan. 

Camden Council is in the process of updating its Local Plan to align with new challenges such as climate change, affordability, and the need for sustainable growth. Further consultation is anticipated in winter/spring 2025, with adoption currently anticipated for winter/spring 2026. For the O2 Centre site, the emerging Local Plan continues to support significant redevelopment of the area to deliver affordable homes, commercial spaces, and improved public realm. 

The West End Lane to Finchley Road Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), which was adopted in 2021, gave guidance for the land and sites stretching from Finchley Road Town Centre to the east through Blackburn Road to West End Lane – including the O2 Centre Masterplan site. 

The SPD identifies that there is a major opportunity for comprehensive redevelopment of this land to create a new place. 

The key objectives for the site include an integrated and comprehensive approach to deliver a range of public benefits, the delivery of new homes, the creation of a strong and vibrant shopping centre, improved connectivity, improved street environment, a sustainable and high-quality design, new green spaces, community facilities, car-free, and strong and lasting partnerships to ensure a coordinated approach to development and delivery. 

The O2 Centre Masterplan will deliver on these ambitions, which is why planning permission was granted.

We’re proposing changes to Phase One out of necessity. Unfortunately, this application process is both costly for us and impacts the pace at which we can deliver the benefits of the O2 Centre Masterplan.

The application is needed because there have been significant changes to building regulation and legislation, particularly fire safety standards, since Camden approved the O2 Centre Masterplan in March 2023. Necessary updates are therefore being proposed to Phase One to ensure the safest, most secure homes can be delivered.

The fire safety changes, including the requirement for second staircases, mean that the ‘cores’ of the buildings have had to be significantly expanded, in turn shrinking the amount of available floor space for homes. Therefore, to make these changes, as well deliver the wider benefits, there will be a proposed one to two additional floors across most of the buildings, and 43 more homes overall, in Phase One.

The Section 73 proposal confirms that we’re proposing an extra 20 affordable homes for Phase One – and maintaining our commitment to 36% affordable housing in this phase too. We worked closely with Camden’s planning and design officers to reconfigure the floor space and the resulting changes to building height. It was agreed that the proposals we’re putting forward now strike the best balance between providing more affordable homes while minimising height increases.

To mitigate the height increases, we’ve been able to optimise the ‘floor build up’. This means we can reduce the floor-to-floor heights without changing the floor-to-ceiling heights – resulting in lower overall building heights than would otherwise have been the case.

We worked closely with the public during our recent consultation on the plans for the community centre.

In response to their feedback, we’re ensuring the new community centre’s space can be flexibly used in a variety of ways, so that it best represents the diverse local communities. For example, the workshops provided suggestions for how the space could be used – with spaces which could be split for multiple smaller activities, a kitchen area and more. We’ll continue working with local groups on this post-submission.

Following community feedback, we have also given extensive thought into play spaces and how the central green will be used.

The Section 73 proposals have now been submitted to Camden Council for their consideration and consultation. The Camden Planning Committee will decide whether to approve our application. We’ll be hosting more drop-in sessions at the O2 Centre for people to learn more about our proposals.

While the timelines for Section 73 process are for Camden to decide, we’re hopeful that our proposed changes will be approved later in 2025. We’ll continue working with Camden and the community during this process so that we can get on with delivering the homes and the other community benefits of Phase One.