Green light for flats in Greenwich’s art deco town hall – with clock tower open to the public

Plans to convert Greenwich’s old art deco old town hall into rented flats finally got the go-ahead on Tuesday night – with the prospect of its landmark clock tower being open to the public four times a year.

The council managed to eke out a handful of cheaper “affordable” flats from the developer behind the scheme – with the chair of planning saying that he expected to see more as work progressed on building a rooftop extension so 80 flats could be built.

Meridian House opened in 1939 as the headquarters of the old Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich. It was sold for offices in 1973 after being deemed surplus to requirements by the current council, which had taken over eight years earlier after a merger with Woolwich.

The building, designed by the architect Clifford Culpin,was said to have been inspired by the town hall in the Dutch city of Hilversum, which is also dominated by a distinctive clock tower. Riverlow, the developer, has pledged to restore the Greenwich tower’s dilapidated interior and allow the public to enjoy the views free of charge.

Meridian House had most recently been used by the Greenwich School of Management, but has been empty since the college went out of business in 2019.

Plans for 73 flats, along with commercial space, had originally gone before the committee in October, but councillors deferred the plans to see if more “affordable” housing could be provided, and to allow Riverlow to address concerns about daylight from neighbours.

Originally just 15 flats were going to be offered at 80 per cent of market rent – legally the most expensive “affordable” rents allowed under planning laws. 

Riverlow responded by taking out some commercial space, adding seven flats and making one of the 15 flats available for 60 per cent of market rent and 11 for 70 per cent. The company also dealt with objections from neighbours, which earned them praise from councillors.

Councillors were told by planning officers that new viability assessments during the project would be carried out to find out if more “affordable” accommodation could be provided in the building, on the corner of Royal Hill, one of west Greenwich’s most desirable streets.

The figures in the current viability assessment  “were nowhere near the figures for Royal Hill on Zoopla this morning”, said Gary Dillon, the chair of planning. 

“I thought we would come up with more affordable homes,” Greenwich Peninsula councillor David Gardner said, whole Olu Babatola, a Thamesmead Moorings councillor, said he was “not convinced”.

Gardner pointed out that there had been a 20 per cent increase in rents in the borough over the past year, but Raffi Wechsler, for Riverlow, said developers had to contend with a “tremendous increase in build costs and interest rates”. 

“This is a base to start with, things could change this year, next year, three years’ time,” he said. “Rents may go down again by the time we’re finished, and by then we’d be stuck.

“We need to work within the confines of a listed building, there’s a huge amount of fire regulations which can oppose additional costs you wouldn’t necessarily get on a new build. And sometimes when you’re converting a building there’s unseen challenges that don’t appear obvious at the beginning but are there.” 

Councillors also pushed for a commitment that some of the commercial space in the building would be given over to community use. Wechsler said that there had been interest from a dance studio, but that it was hard to tell until the works had been completed.

“Maybe when the clocktower is open people can hold events in that space, I’m open to anything,” said Wechsler said.

All six councillors on the planning board – Dillon, Gardner, Babatola, Maisie Richards Cottell (East Greenwich), Sandra Bauer (Kidbrooke Park) and Pat Greenwell (Conservative, Eltham Town & Avery Hill) – supported the proposal. Richards Cottell said: “You’re bringing a listed building back into use, that’s very welcome.”

Dillion said: “I believe our officers have a very robust review scheme in place. I look forward to the increase in the value of rental flats on Royal Hill and more affordable accommodation flats in the bullding.”

The original town hall complex also included the Borough Hall, which was retained by the council when the rest of the building was sold but remains empty with its future uncertain.

Note: We place “affordable” in inverted commas whenever we write about housing developments as the legal term “affordable” does not actually mean the homes are really affordable.