A former town hall in Greenwich will be converted into a set of flats, with the iconic clock tower offering ‘unparalleled views across London’ to the public for free. Greenwich Council has approved plans to convert its former town hall on Greenwich High Road into a set of 80 flats.
The project will see a roof extension being added to the building to accommodate the new housing. Council documents said the building is Grade II listed and was built in 1939. The structure served as the council’s town hall until 1965 before later being used by the Greenwich School of Management. The school entered administration in 2019 and the building has remained vacant since.
The project from the Riverview Group was discussed at a planning board meeting for Greenwich Council on March 5. The plans had previously been brought to the board last October but were deferred to allow the developer to determine whether more affordable housing could be included.
The revised plans replaced a portion of ground floor retail space planned for the site with housing, providing seven more flats to the scheme. The price of the 15 ‘affordable’ flats in the project has also been decreased, with prices ranging from 20 to 40 per cent discounts to market rent, when the previous discount was 15 per cent.
Councillors at the meeting criticised the developer for not providing a greater number of affordable flats in the renewed plans. Raffi Wechsler, speaking on behalf of Riverview, said that the affordable housing provision could be reviewed in future assessments.
Mr Wechsler said at the meeting: “This is the minimum that we’re committing to, but we’re now giving you deeper discounts on those rents to make sure that we address the concerns of having a truly affordable rent for certain people in these units there.”
The proposal will also see the clock tower observation deck in the building become available for the public to use free of charge at least four times a year. Planning documents from JTP, on behalf Riverlow, said the structure had been inaccessible for over 50 years due to health and safety concerns.
Keith Mapingire, design director for the project, said at the meeting: “In addition to the clear planning benefit of bringing this iconic building back into a sustainable, meaningful use that meets the needs of the community, our plans also facilitate periodic public access to Meridian House’s 49 metre clocktower and its viewing gallery. This offers unparalleled views across London and beyond.”
Mr Mapingire also confirmed that contact details for the concierge service in the scheme would be available online once it was completed, to allow neighbours to cite any potential concerns. The planning board agreed at the meeting to give permission for the developer to convert Meridian House into housing.
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Picture 1: Meridian House, as seen on Greenwich High Road.
Picture 2: A CGI of the proposed development of Meridian House, as seen on Greenwich High Road. Credit: JTP / Riverlow Group
