The Marlborough Building, Holloway Road

Following local pre-application community consultation in the Spring of 2023, a planning application was submitted to the London Borough of Islington for the residential-led mixed-use redevelopment of The Marlborough Building, 383 Holloway Road London, N7 0RN. This website has been launched on behalf of the new owners, Elleric and provides key information on their proposals, helping local residents, neighbours and other interest groups find out more about the emerging plans and provide their feedback.

Background

The Marlborough Building is an eight-storey building of reinforced concrete and steel frame construction dating back to the 1960’s.

Situated some 650 metres from Holloway Underground Station and covering an area of 0.2 hectares, its previous use was by the City and Islington College for educational purposes. The College was taken out of teaching/learning use in 2020/21 and its previous functions consolidated to other sites.

The building had a large café/common area ancillary to the college use. There was a reception with security gates at ground floor level while a basement provided basic storage, plant and an estates office. The upper floors provided classrooms and support offices.

Current Status

The planning application (reference P2023/1744/FUL) was registered by Islington Council in July 2023, and since that time there has been extensive dialogue with the Council’s planning team about potential changes.

You can visit the downloads section of this website to look at the consultation proposals that led to the July 2023 planning application and also the intended revisions to that planning application, shown at a community drop-session held on 16th May 2024.

In summary, the revisions involve:

• A similar height as in the live planning application for the Holloway Road building (9-storeys), but a change in the proposed materials and massing, with the introduction of Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC);
• The removal of side elements to the front of the Holloway Road building so that the width is consistent with that of the existing building frame. The additional width is now drawn back and is located in the central part of the proposed building;
• The drawing back of the wings of the Holloway Road building and the removal of a balcony that was previously overlooking the neighbouring church;
• The removal of a terrace that was located at the very top of the Holloway Road building and a remodelled and expanded playspace and communal garden at level 1 between the Holloway Road block and the proposed Warlters Road block;
• A simpler, more elegant building form for the Holloway Road block;
• A change to the block fronting Warlters Road so that it has a simpler vertical form and additional height, making it now five-storeys rather than four. Previously it was four-storeys with a set back fourth-story. This is the most significant change to the submitted application;
• An increase in the provision of affordable housing in the revised Warlters Road block;
• An overall increase in the number of homes to 63 across the Holloway Road and Warlters Road blocks, an addition of three extra homes compared to the live application;
• An improved proportion of affordable homes in the proposal from 30% to 35% with 13 socially rented homes (the recognised most affordable tenure) in the Warlters Road block and 9 intermediate homes (part owned, part rented) in the Holloway Road block.

It is expected that the revisions to the live planning application (reference P2023/1744/FUL) will be submitted in mid-June 2024. These will be the subject of separate local consultation by Islington Council.

Existing condition

The site is located within the Nag's Head Town Centre Area and has been highlighted in the past as a potential development opportunity in Islington Council’s ‘Nag's Head Town Centre Strategy’.

It presents a key opportunity to support the overall regeneration initiatives of Nag's Head Town Centre and provide housing at a sustainable location.

The building is not statutorily or locally listed, nor is it within a Conservation Area. It is however adjacent to the Hillmarton Conservation Area and close to the Mercers Road/Tavistock Terrace Conservation Area.

The existing building covers around 3/5ths of the site length from north to south. To the north-west is the publicly accessible but underused pedestrian corridor from Holloway Road leading to Warlters Road at the rear. This is in a poor condition, inadequately lit and lacks an active frontage.

Until around five years ago temporary two storey structures were used by the college and occupied the remainder of the site footprint behind the existing building to west along the frontage of Warlters Road.

To the immediate south-east is the locally listed Holloway Seventh-day Adventist Church. To the north-west of the site are 1970s, 1980s & 1990s largely seven-storey buildings with retail bases and student accommodation above (operated by specialist provider IQ).

The site ownership extends to the edge of Holloway Road and includes a drop-off/turning semi-circle but excludes the pavement and tree between the accesses. There is a service entrance to the lower ground floor from the rear leading to a yard and parking area with electronic gates to Warlters Road to the south-west.

Key features of the proposed development

Elleric has given a brief to the Apt architectural practice to deliver a building of exemplary design which provides a high-quality residential-led mixed-use development.

The latest revised proposals for The Marlborough Building seek to reinvigorate the Nag’s Head Town Centre and deliver much-needed housing in the borough along with flexible commercial uses at ground floor to activate the street scene. In addition, the proposals aim to enhance the public realm at the Holloway Road forecourt and also the Holloway Road/Warlters Road public corridor.

There are two principal and complementary elements to the proposals – the retained and extended existing building and which primarily relates to Holloway Road and a new building which will be sited to the rear and which primarily relates to Warlters Road.

Key element 1: the existing Holloway Road building

The existing frame of the main building at the site fronting Holloway Road will be retained but with the façades transformed by the combination of a Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC) panels and a brown brick on the wings.

The building seeks to have a confident and appropriate presence on Holloway Road. At ground floor level, there will be the central entrance to the residential lobby and to the southern side of this will be new retail unit, whilst to the northern side will be a further retail unit and office space, both of which extending westwards along the public route. Both these units seek to introduce activity to the ground floor and have dedicated entrances.

The public realm on the Holloway Road frontage and along the public route will be significantly enhanced through new planting, paving and lighting. This will particularly improve pedestrian experience and safety along the public route.

The existing basement of the building will be retained and extended by approximately 220 sq. m which will contain a new gym of 368 sq. m as well as a cycle store (with spaces for 82 bikes) and plant rooms.

There will be 50 apartments in the Holloway Road building including 41 for private sale and 9 for shared ownership (affordable housing).

Key element 2: the rear Warlters Road building

The design approach with this element of the proposal is to construct a new urban block that provides a clear contrast with the Holloway Road building.

Following the latest 2024 revisions, the proposed new building is a uniform five-storeys in height to achieve a height and massing which seeks to respond to the neighbouring IQ student accommodation and Parkhurst Court whilst being sensitive to the terraced housing on Warlters Road.

A warm, buff brick will be used, referencing the yellow brick tones found along Warlters Road such as at the student accommodation and former tram depot. This reaffirms the dual characters of the two proposed buildings at the site.

There will be 13 apartments in total in the Warlters Road building and all will be affordable (socially rented). When added to the 9 shared ownership and 41 private sale apartments in the Holloway Road building, there will be 63 apartments in total with 35% being offered as affordable tenures.

Overall, one studio, 23 one-bedroomed, 33 two-bedroomed and 6 three-bedroomed apartments are proposed. 8 apartments will also be wheelchair accessible.

All apartments will have dual aspects and benefit from private external amenity space in the form of a balcony or a terrace. There will also be an attractive and safe communal playspace on the podium level (first floor) between the Holloway Road building and the Warlters Road building. This has been increased in size to 230 sq. m in the revised proposal.

Parking, servicing and sustainability

Due to its very good access to public transport, the proposal has been designed to be car-free and will not include on-site parking provision. A financial contribution can be made available for disabled car parking spaces on Warlters Road. 82 bicycle spaces will be provided both internally for residents and commercial occupiers as well as externally for visitors.

The delivery and servicing activities for the commercial elements are expected to take place via Holloway Road where there are numerous loading opportunities.

For the rear building, the delivery and servicing activities for the proposed residential will take place on-street on Warlters Road to the rear of the site, in a similar manner to the neighbouring residential properties. It is proposed to extend the existing yellow line that currently protects the existing vehicle access on Warlters Road. This would create additional space for any delivery and servicing activity.

Due to the retention of the concrete frame of the existing Marlborough Building, the embodied carbon of the site will be considerably reduced. Energy measures to maximise carbon reduction will be incorporated and greening/biodiversity opportunities will be maximised where possible through the use of small trees, planting and green roofs at ground floor and other levels.