Plans for 351 rental homes as part of a major regeneration project around Cockfosters London Underground station have been initially approved by Enfield Council, subject to conditions.

Delivered by Connected Living London (CLL) – the formal partnership between Grainger plc and Transport for London (TfL) – the 1.36 hectare development will deliver 351 new rental homes, including 40% affordable housing, commercial space, improvements to the public realm, and new operational space for TfL. 

The new homes will be delivered across four buildings and will be a mixture of one, two and three-bedroom properties, providing options for all types of households. It has been designed by Hawkins\Brown, Mae Architects and JCLA Landscape Architects.

Sustainability is a core focus throughout the plans and the development intends to optimise building performance with respect to energy, carbon, water and waste. It will also include solar panels, wildlife-friendly landscaping, and will lead to more than 70 additional trees being planted across the development. 

The designs also enhance public access to Trent Park and the London Outer Orbital Path and have been designed to provide around 4,200sqm of publicly accessible open space for both the local community and residents, with the new trees and greenery replacing much of the current hard surface.

The development encourages sustainable transport through excellent public transport connections, such as the Piccadilly line and the multiple bus routes that serve the Grade II listed Cockfosters Tube station. A new cycle hub with 60 spaces for the local community, as well as improvements to the existing cycle access and pavements, are also designed to encourage walking and cycling. 

While some of the publicly accessible car parking is being re-provided, the new homes themselves have been designed to be effectively car-free, with the exception of blue badge parking for residents and a car club space. This will help to improve air quality in London in line with the mayor’s transport strategy.

Ben Tate, a spokesperson for CLL and head of property development at TfL, said: “We’re really pleased to have been given the go-ahead for our proposed development by Cockfosters Tube station, building on the success of our CLL schemes in Southall, Nine Elms and north Lambeth. This scheme has been designed to provide not only the new and affordable homes that are urgently needed in the borough and across London, but also create new areas of open space and play space that can be enjoyed by the local community and residents alike and re-provide car parking facilities to support the local area. It will contribute around £4.5m to help improve local infrastructure and services.”

Mike Keaveney, director of land and development at Grainger plc, said: “This is another great milestone for our CLL joint venture, and one that will deliver a significant number of professionally managed, well located, quality homes for the local area. We look forward to progressing this development and delivering a scheme that not only benefits our residents, but the wider community too.”

With the capital's shortage of quality rental properties and affordable homes, CLL was established in July 2019 with an ambition of creating London's leading mixed tenure rental communities, providing excellent service in a place where residents feel secure and at home.

The development at Cockfosters is the fourth of CLL’s schemes to be given the go-ahead at planning committee. It follows successful outcomes for its applications in September 2020 to deliver 460 new rental homes in Southall, in December 2020 to deliver 139 new rental homes in north Lambeth and in April 2021 to deliver 479 new rental homes above and around the new Nine Elms Tube station in Lambeth.