Lost light artist Suzi Malin turns developer

Published: 15 July, 2010
by DAN CARRIER

A PORTRAIT artist who lists among her clients Elton John and the Queen of Greece wants Camden Council to find her a new studio while she builds a block of new flats. 

Suzi Malin, who works from a studio in Mill Lane, West Hampstead, claims the Town Hall has ruined her current address by granting planning permission to build a new primary school next door to her home. 

She has fought a long battle against the plans for a new building for popular Emmanuel primary school, but lost the fight six weeks ago when the council’s planning committee passed the scheme, which will back onto Mill Lane Open Space. 

Now she is demanding they help pay for her to find an alternative base while she embarks on building a new block of flats on the site of her studio.

The artist said: “Because the impact of the school’s design on my light is so much and the noise will be so bad, I want the council to find me somewhere to work and live.”

Ms Malin’s plans will include a studio on the top floor, which she says will be “exactly the same” as the one she wants to replace. She said: “It would be wonderful if the new school was scrapped because of government cuts – anything that keeps the studio as it is.”

A council spokes­woman said: “A number of significant changes have been made to the design of Emmanuel primary school’s new building to address Ms Malin’s concerns. The council has also granted Ms Malin permission to develop her studio and we are currently considering another application for a larger development at her  work site.”