85Highbury Park. After over 80 happy years in Highbury, NCH is moving on. June 2008

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1 85Highbury Park After over 80 happy years in Highbury, NCH is moving on June 2008

2 Public consultation Public consultation on the draft planning brief runs from Monday 16 June to Monday 14 July 2008 The draft brief and exhibition content are on the council s website at planning/majorschemes and on NCH s at NCH and Islington Council have also arranged an exhibition in Stephenson Hall, 85 Highbury Park which can be seen at the following dates and times, when council staff and the NCH team will be there to answer your questions: Wednesday 18 June Thursday 19 June Friday 27 June Saturday 28 June Wednesday 2 July Thursday 3 July 2pm 8pm 10am 6pm 2pm 8pm 10am 5pm 10am 6pm 2pm 8pm Top: Rear (west) elevation of Stephenson Hall Above: Disused tennis court What s happening? NCH (formerly National Children s Home) have reluctantly decided that they need new headquarters and therefore need to move out of 85 Highbury Park. They are now working with Islington Council to ensure that their legacy to the borough is a well-designed and sustainable development that fits within the character of the surrounding area. As a first step Islington Council has prepared a draft planning brief. We are asking for your views on the future of this site. Who are NCH? NCH is one of the UK s leading children s charities and runs nearly 500 projects for vulnerable children, young people and their families, supporting over 178,000 people throughout the UK. The National Children s Home was founded in 1869, and moved into Loxford House, 85 Highbury Park in 1926, using the building as a children s home. Through the 1920s we added a hospital, hostels and a training centre for our staff, creating the complex of buildings we have today. Over the years the nature of what we do has changed. We still run training courses and conferences but most of the site has now been converted to offices, and transformed into our headquarters. We now have 280 people working here, about 30 of whom live in Islington, but we have reached the limits of adapting these buildings to cope with modern business systems, and all the latest health and safety and access requirements.

3 Below: Loxford House in 1933, after the extension by Brace The site This site is about 1.25 ha in area. Loxford House is the oldest part of the site and makes an important contribution to the character of the Highbury Fields Conservation Area. The other buildings on the site were designed and built in the 1920s and 30s to meet NCH s needs at the time. Legard House was built as a children s hospital in In 1929, Turner and Wakefield Houses were added to provide hostels for boys and girls moving from care into work, and in 1935 Stephenson Hall was built as a training centre for childcare staff working in children s homes. These buildings have been adapted to become NCH s headquarters, but have now reached the limit of change. There are some substantial trees on the site boundaries, that are protected. Planting inside the site is more mixed in quality, with some overgrown shrubs and some trees reaching the end of their natural life. Assessment of all of this is underway and will be part of any planning application.

4 Draft planning brief The draft planning brief sets out the following principles for a new development here: making the most of this opportunity to create a mainly housing scheme that sets a landmark in Islington for sustainable design and construction as much as possible of the housing should be for families [three bedrooms or more] 50% of the housing should be affordable keeping the trees on Lucerne Road and Highbury Park boundaries trying to keep as many as possible of the other trees within the site (according to the tree preservation order) keeping Loxford House as the front building on the site Above: Sisterhood students in Stephenson Hall soon after it s opening in 1935 making the new scheme fully accessible throughout achieving a high-quality modern design the complements the residential character and scale of the Highbury Fields Conservation Area making the new scheme car-free, with proper provision for cycles, and the exception of on-site car-club and accessible parking exploring creating a new green open space within the site with space for children to play maintaining and improving the security for neighbours Please send us your views The views of local residents are important to Islington Council and NCH. Please come to the Open Days or complete the form, tear it off and post it back to us. If you wish to be kept up to date about this project, please put your or street address below. Address: Postcode: Any personal information you give us is held securely and will be used only for council purposes. Information that was collected for one purpose may be used for another council purpose, unless there are legal restrictions preventing this. Islington may share this information where necessary with other organisations, including (but not limited to) where it is appropriate to protect public funds and/or prevent fraud in line with the National Fraud Initiative guidelines. Please see for more information.

5 How vulnerable children will benefit NCH helps the most vulnerable children and young people in the UK break through injustice, deprivation and inequality, so they can achieve their full potential. Moving from 85 Highbury Park will enable NCH to: concentrate resources on services to children and young people ensure that a higher proportion of donated income goes towards children in need reduce overhead costs by moving to more flexible and cost-effective ways of working reinvest proceeds of the sale of 85 Highbury Park in the future provision of services for children No stamp required Highbury Park Consultation FREEPOST RRTG-GGZK-ESHH Old Street London EC1V 9AB

6 Southern flank elevation of Loxford House What s next? Once the public consultation ends, the planning brief will be reviewed to take account of your comments. The final brief will be reported to East Area committee on Monday 8 September 2008 for approval, and then published on the council s website. NCH will advertise for developers to express an interest in developing the site. Four or five of these will be chosen (based on their development team of architects and other experts, their previous experience, and their overall approach) and asked to design a scheme and make an offer. Both the planning brief, as the basis for the design and set the criteria against which it will be judged, and the financial rules NCH has to follow as a charity will be used to select the final developer and scheme. The developer will have to make a planning application following all the council s procedures for public consultation. If you would like this document in large print or Braille, audiotape or in another language, please contact The full draft planning brief can be seen at: Or printed copies obtained from Planning Enquiries: Phone planning@islington.gov.uk Writing to Planning Enquiries London Borough of Islington 222 Upper Street Highbury N1 1YA Registered charity nos /SC038092/company no Photographs NCH/Pejman Faratin. Some NCH photographs are posed by models. Produced by NCH 05/ /