Architect's Journal has a detailed article about the hitches that Transport for London (TfL) has come up against as it tries to build new housing on tube car parks. Two of the controversial projects are not far from PG - at Arnos Grove and Cockfosters.
Opposition to the proposed developments is generally based around three points: the wish to retain car parking at tube stations; how well the designs blend in with their suburban surroundings, particularly as regards their height; and whether they incorporate the right mix of housing types, as regards both size and affordability.
In some cases opponents argue that simply reducing height would make the proposals acceptable, but Ben Rogers, former director of the Centre for London think tank, while agreeing that the type of densities and heights TfL is aiming for are without local precedent, says London’s suburbs are so low density it is hard to make the new housing economically or environmentally sustainable.
"Are they really a precedent worth following?" he asks. "And of course the suburbs themselves were much more unprecedented – they were built a century ago on open country."
If this is an issue that interests you, this article is well worth reading because it is unusually thorough and looks at the issues from many different angles.
