Building up to years of chaos in Highgate?

Published: 11th November, 2010
by DAN CARRIER

HIGHGATE is facing the triple threat of three massive building projects taking place at the same time to the dismay of residents living nearby.

A planning application to carve a basement underneath Beechwood House, the white-stucco Victorian pile that borders Hampstead Heath and the Fitzroy Park allotments, has been lodged at the Town Hall. 

It comes at the same time as planned developments for Witanhurst and Athlone House, two ­other historic mansions in Highgate.

The Beechwood plans, due to be considered by Camden Council’s planning committee within a fortnight, would see a new swimming pool dug out under the house and a gazebo in the back garden, designed, according to the architects’ blurb, in a Regency style. 

Rumours swept London’s property press two years ago that Beechwood had been bought for a shade under £50million by the Russian oil and steel billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who owns a large stake of Arsenal football club.

The owners have employed Martin Ashley, specialists in period and listed buildings, to draw up the plans. The firm have previously worked on Royal residences Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court. 

But resident in Highgate are bracing themselves for at least four years of heavy trucks rumbling through the village, removing thousands of tonnes of soil.

Critics say the Beechwood scheme is just the latest in a series of excessive projects taken on by newly arrived super-rich residents turning Highgate’s ageing mansions into their dream homes.

Highgate Green Party councillor Maya De Souza said “The people who have bought these properties do not care about the damage it causes to the community their homes are in. They just do not bear any of the costs.”

The Highgate Society’s Michael Hammerson said the home improvements must not be considered until a hydrological survey and geo-technical work had proved it would not affect watercourses. The home’s gardens border on streams that feed into the Highgate ponds on Hampstead Heath. 

“It must be clear whether the scheme will block the flow of underground water or divert it,” said Michael Hammerson.

He insisted that an ancient oak tree that was once a boundary marker must also be protected. 

The society are concerned about the lorries needed for the work, and how they will clog up the streets of the village. 

Property agent Nick Grant, of Savills, who is representing the owner, said an initial application had been withdrawn after advice from the Town Hall’s planning department and pressure from neighbours. 

“We withdrew the first application because of objections,” he said. “Planning officers suggested we should look at it again. The pool will now be underground and so no one will see it at all.”

Work has already begun at Witanhurst, the building at the top of Highgate West Hill. Its ownership is registered to a brass plaque company in a small street in St Peter Port, Guernsey. 

When the New Journal visited the office in the summer, no one was available to discuss its owner.

The owners of Athlone House also remain a mystery. Their solicitor David Cooper has refused to reveal their identity.