Broc Soc proposes Mantle Road alternative
We have also taken the liberty of suggesting an alternative strategy for the site. Included here is an ‘artists impression’ of our sketch proposals. It is not a design, as such, just an alternative vision – using a montage of other existing London buildings as an example of the sort of scheme that we feel might work for 6 Mantle Road.
In short – we are hoping that the current application is rejected, and the developer, in consultation with local people, opts for a scheme that includes the following changes:
- Further reduction in scale towards south of site, where development meets St Norberts Road - Potential for Pedestrian access to west platform of Brockley Station.
- Higher quality design
- More considered approach to public realm
- Better mix of retail provision (small / medium rather than one large)
- Mixed use – levels 1 and 2 of northern building could be for offices. For those that might not be aware – this site has always been used for business use – in fact the original use for the site was for a station building to the west of the railway line – which was demolished c.1970.
We feel an element of office use would still be appropriate here – we are keen to see central Brockley develop thriving small business enterprises – such as the architectural practices that have already set up and are doing well. There is no reason why other small businesses should not chose to base themselves in Brockley – though this will be hard if every possible site has been used for housing.
To these ends – we hope that readers might help my signing our online petition – which we will submit to Lewisham Planning in support of our case for objection. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/planning-6mantleroad/
BC certainly prefers the aesthetic BrocSoc have gone for here, although we think a bridge of some sort (as the current scheme proposes) could work nicely and would maximise land use. The call for more space for small businesses is reasonable, although they have not mentioned that there is already a major development nearing completion at Martin's Yard, which meets this objective. The developers might reasonably argue that demand for this type of space is as-yet unproven.
