Friday 16 September 2011

497 New Cross Road

A trip to the south end of Deptford High Street this morning revealed that building work on the site on New Cross Road, right next to the Little Crown pub, has moved on apace after having been stalled for years since Mr Video's old store was demolished. I noticed it as I gazed up at the beautiful blue sky.

Unfortunately what I saw was not beautiful at all - and I recommend those of a sensitive disposition to browse elsewhere right now.




In fact the pictures do not do full horrific justice to the new building on the right of the Little Crown, clad as it is in what look like shiny ceramic tiles.


It's fair to say that this parade of rather beautiful buildings on New Cross Road does disintegrate into grubby, poor quality infill as you approach the end of Deptford High Street but I was shocked to think that any planner had approved the clumsy, ugly, badly proportioned mess that I saw before me.



So I sought out the plans online, to discover that approval had been given (with quite a number of conditions) for the design shown above. Absolutely nothing like what has been built, neither in terms of dimensions, finishes, roof line etc. (The shiny tiling should actually be white render, in case you were wondering.)

Lewisham planning enforcement - I think it's over to you now.

7 comments:

CarolineLD said...

I noticed this while waiting for the bus yesterday - it's spectacularly horrible. Thank you for showing the divergence from the original plans - let's hope the council do take action.

Anonymous said...

Dear god, that's an eyesore. I will never understand the urge to create awful looking buildings, especially since this diverges from the original plans.

O'Quo-Charlz said...

This is an example of what gives modern architecture a bad name.

As someone who normally likes modern architecture, this baffles me as it looks nothing like what was planned which wouldn't have been this bad.

It should have been more sympathetic with what exist on the High Street not this...

Anonymous said...

it's a vertical turd with windows and girders

keith said...

I alerted Lewisham planners (formally) to this 3 months ago; they have done diddly about it.
I cant think that if they had built according to plan that it would have been very much better! what a disgusting mistake!

Peter said...

I couldn't agree more.

I sent the following email to the Planning department today - let's wait to hear what they come back with.

Dear Planning Department,

I would like to make a formal complaint about a new build at 497 New Cross Road for not adhering to the plans submitted to the Planning Committee, see http://deptforddame.blogspot.com/2011/09/497-new-cross-road.html

Please can you tell me how you intend to pursue the property developer to ensure it corrects the building the conform to the plans?

It's outrageous that our high streets should be ruined by such awful designs, let alone developers be allowed to get away with building something completely different to what's on the plans.

If they break the rules on how it looks, who's to say they haven't also contravened all kinds of health and safety regulations internally?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

XXXX

thecyclist said...

I don't think it's too bad... Non-traditional, simple, understated. Sympathetic to the scale and massing of its neighbours. It contributes the diversity of built form in the area... The fact that it differs from the approved plans is interesting and I look forward to hearing the outcome on that particular point.