UK Construction and Law

Camden consents a taller masterplan with the affordable share cut to twenty per cent, and the officers' report calls the scheme stalled

By Staff Writer  |  25 August 2026

Revised plans for the 14 acre Finchley Road regeneration were approved on 20 August. The masterplan still carries up to 1,800 homes, but the affordable share falls to 20 per cent, several blocks gain storeys and the officers put the reduction at 92 homes for low income families. The developer says the change follows the emergency housing measures set out by government and the Mayor of London.

The redevelopment of the shopping and leisure centre on Finchley Road was consented in 2023 as a three phase, ten to fifteen year masterplan for up to 1,800 homes across a 14 acre site. It did not start. Revised plans went back to Camden at the beginning of this year and were approved by the planning committee on 20 August. The scheme that comes out the other side is taller, greener at ground level and carries a fifth of its homes as affordable rather than the higher share the earlier consent required.

The officers' report is the document that matters here. It records that the scheme had stalled amid spiralling construction costs and concerns over viability, treats the amendments as minor, and puts the effect of the change at 92 fewer homes for low income families. Some blocks rise to around 17 storeys. Phase one, which has detailed rather than outline consent, will deliver 651 homes.

The emergency measures are now doing real work

The reduction is expressly aligned with the emergency housing measures set out by the government and the Mayor of London to lower the affordable requirement in the capital to 20 per cent and unlock stalled sites. That is the part of this decision with a life beyond one site. A developer with a consented scheme that will not fund itself now has a route back to committee that does not depend on arguing viability from first principles, because the policy position it needs has been announced nationally and in London.

A consented scheme that cannot be built is worth nothing to anybody. The trade off the committee accepted is fewer affordable homes sooner against a larger number that had not moved in three years.

By aligning with the GLA's emergency housing measures, we're still able to create new homes for Camden, provide open green space and protect the long-term benefits we promised the community in 2023.

Tim Trillo, development director at Landsec

Building safety is in the redesign as well

Cost inflation is only half the account given for the reset. The revised plans also incorporate changes needed to meet updated building safety requirements, which on a scheme of buildings at this height means second staircases, revised core planning and the consequences those carry for net to gross ratios. That is a familiar pattern on tall residential schemes consented before the current rules bedded in: the design changes required to satisfy the regulator remove sellable area, the removed area has to be found somewhere, and extra storeys are the cheapest place to find it.

The wider package is unchanged in shape. More than half the site is given over to public space, including a central green area with planting, play zones and seating, and improved walking and cycling connections between Finchley Road and West Hampstead. Phase one carries a 10 million pound contribution towards step-free access at West Hampstead station.

What to watch

Two things. First, whether the section 106 deed is renegotiated to match, because a masterplan permission of this size sits on an agreement drafted against the 2023 numbers and the affordable housing schedule is the part that has to move. Second, whether the same route is taken on other London schemes: if the emergency measures are read as a general licence to revisit consented affordable shares, the volume of section 73 and fresh hybrid applications through the autumn will show it before any policy document does.