Guardian accused of cashing in with flats plan
THE OFFICES of The Guardian could be turned into luxury flats when the newspaper moves to King's Cross in 2008.
Bosses at the site in Farringdon Road, Finsbury, have applied to Islington Council for planning permission to convert the building into 124 new homes.
One in four would be set aside for key workers such as teachers and nurses, or low-income families.
But the remaining 93 homes could be sold on the open market and fetch hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The application has already come under fire from EC1 New Deal bosses who say the development does not provide much-needed family housing.
The existing proposal is to build 13 studio flats, 51 one-bedroom homes and 60 two-bedroom units.
Leo Chapman, who is standing in the EC1 New Deal board elections, said: "It's ironic that the publisher of The Guardian, which comments on the ills in society, has no family housing as part of its project.
"Family housing is three bedrooms and above and much-needed in this area where there is a lot of deprivation and many people are forced to live in over-crowded homes."
The building has been home to The Guardian and The Observer since 1976 but Guardian Newspapers Limited bosses say the company has outgrown its headquarters. The Guardian Unlimited website runs out of a building in nearby Ray Street and staff are located in seven buildings around Farringdon.
The application, which is yet to come before Islington Council, also includes plans to extend the existing building to provide office space at the lower ground and ground floor levels, a cafe or restaurant and 27 car parking spaces.
Developers are proposing to build a six-storey extension to the front of the site, two new storeys over the existing back yard and a new six-storey high wing looking on to Ray Street and part of Crayford passage.
The new home will house 1,400 staff and will be part of the regeneration of the King's Cross development.
|
|
|
|
|
|