{"id":777192,"date":"2025-03-04T10:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T10:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=777192"},"modified":"2025-03-04T12:38:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T12:38:33","slug":"listing-bid-fails-for-seiferts-croydon-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/listing-bid-fails-for-seiferts-croydon-tower","title":{"rendered":"Listing bid fails for Seifert\u2019s Croydon tower"},"content":{"rendered":"

The society submitted a renewed listing application for the building in August, after it emerged that Howells was planning to convert the landmark high rise into flats<\/a> under permitted development rules.<\/p>\n

The heritage campaign group had previously said that while it supported plans for the building\u2019s residential conversion in principle, ‘a sympathetic approach to any works [was] essential’.<\/p>\n

Its listing bid followed an earlier unsuccessful attempt to protect the building 12 years ago.<\/p>\n

Posting on Bluesky<\/a>, the society said it was \u2018disappointing news\u2019 that its second attempt had failed, insisting that the building was \u2018Seifert\u2019s most significant tower to remain unlisted\u2019.<\/p>\n

The 24-storey office block at 12-16 Addiscombe Road, next to East Croydon station, opened in 1970 as the headquarters of Noble Lowndes Annuities (NLA). It is also known as No 1 Croydon as well as the 50p or Thrupenny Bit building.<\/p>\n

Under Howells\u2019 proposals, no external alterations would be made to the tower, which would be converted into 250 self-contained flats. These would range in size from 38m\u00b2 to 73m\u00b2, with the number of homes per floor varying between 10 and 12.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Historic England (then English Heritage) rejected a bid from the Twentieth Century Society to Grade II list the building on architecture and planning grounds.<\/p>\n

At the time, the government’s heritage watchdog said the building had been \u2018very carefully considered against Seifert & Partners\u2019 body of work, as well as in comparison with other contemporary office blocks and did not meet the necessarily strict criteria of special interest required for post-war buildings\u2019.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson added in 2013: \u2018The design lacks the sophistication of Seifert\u2019s best projects and the poor quality integrally designed landscaping detracts from the value of the whole scheme.\u2019<\/p>\n

Commenting on the latest listing bid failure, a C20 spokesperson told the AJ: ‘The term \u2018landmark building\u2019 gets bandied around rather too liberally, but No.1 Croydon – or the 50p \/ Thruppenny bit building, depending on your age – really is the defining feature on the Croydon skyline. Moreover, it\u2019s one of Richard Seifert and Partners very best buildings, demonstrating the same striking sculptural quality as at Centre Point and Space House.<\/p>\n

‘The Society supported plans for a conversion from office to residential usage, but is very disappointed that our application to list the tower has again been rejected by Historic England and DCMS. A designation would have helped ensure a sympathetic approach to any works, and ensure that the special features that define the building are not lost.’<\/p>\n

A prior approval notice for the building\u2019s change of use was submitted to Croydon Council on behalf of Britel Fund Trustees in July 2024.<\/p>\n

Permitted development rules allowing homes to be built in former commercial premises have proved controversial in the past, prompting claims that the policy was creating \u2018slums of the future<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

In 2014, Croydon Council introduced a ban on permitted development schemes in the borough after a slew of office-to-resi conversions. That block has now expired.<\/p>\n

Howells has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/span>\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Comment<\/h2>\n

Colm Lacey, managing director of Soft Cities and former chief executive of Croydon Council’s housing developer Brick By Brick<\/strong><\/p>\n

At first glance, the proposals for the NLA tower look like an interesting conversion of a much-loved local landmark, with the majority of the flats meeting minimum space standards and presenting a workable domestic layout. There remain some issues \u2013 not least the apparent absence of affordable housing tenures and the perennial office-to-resi challenge of multiple single-aspect units.<\/p>\n

The scheme raises an interesting question as to whether decent quality permitted development (PD) conversions offer more security for the architectural integrity of office buildings in outer London than their more commercially perilous extant uses. In this case, it should be noted that the unfortunate ground-floor extension, which blights the otherwise original composition, is a wholly commercial retail addition.<\/p>\n

Croydon has suffered badly from extremely poor quality PD conversions in the past, and at present the quality (and tenure mix) of such developments remains driven by developer sentiment rather than regulatory policy. One would hope that the current planning reform process might begin to tackle the need for a simple, workable policy which enables the right kind of office-to-resi (and retail-to-resi) conversion.\u2018<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The society submitted a renewed listing application for the building in August, after it emerged that Howells was planning to convert the landmark high rise into flats under permitted development rules. The heritage campaign group had previously said that while it supported plans for the building\u2019s residential conversion in principle, ‘a sympathetic approach to any …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":915,"featured_media":752798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[681],"tags":[1454,99902,5113,69085,2100,1723],"yoast_head":"\nListing bid fails for Seifert\u2019s Croydon tower<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Twentieth Century Society has failed in a second bid to list Richard Seifert\u2019s iconic No 1 Croydon building, formerly the NLA tower\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/listing-bid-fails-for-seiferts-croydon-tower\" \/>\n<meta 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