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Only £3million: A Thames-side penthouse at Imperial Wharf

Imperial Wharf in Fulham, the biggest mixed-tenure housing scheme in London, has become something of a property cause célèbre. To obtain permission to build in this select part of town - on the site of a derelict gasworks - developer St George had to agree to 50 per cent of its scheme being built as affordable homes for low-income groups.

Trumpeted by some as a model for future development in London, it has also been criticised as a flawed attempt to impose housing solutions by planning diktat. Why should the project provoke such strong views?

Size, location and environmental problems are obvious reasons. But there are other issues that go to the heart of the debate over the sort of communities Londoners want.

More than 1,600 homes are planned for the 32-acre site, which has extensive Thames frontage and lies next to the exclusive Chelsea Harbour.

While almost half of the homes are earmarked "affordable" (to be let through the local council and housing associations), others carry a price tag of more than £3 million.

According to St George, Imperial Wharf is a textbook piece of inner-city regeneration.

As well as new homes to meet the needs of key workers and the poorly housed, there will be offices, shops, restaurants, a hotel, leisure club and public park.

All in all, an integrated community with improved transport including a new railway station (yet to be confirmed). Marks & Spencer has already signed up for an 18,000sq ft food store.

In other words, Imperial Wharf is set to become a new neighbourhood - one of many such places envisaged by Ken Livingstone's London Plan for 460,000 new homes over the next 15 years.

But will it work? There are obvious concerns. For a start, will such a high proportion of "affordableî housing drag down the price of the luxury apartments and homes available to the private buyers? Can private buyers and council tenants happily co-exist? Will such a high-density development damage the local environment and lead to more traffic on inadequate roads, creating even more pollution and, ultimately, a lower quality of life?

Most vocal have been residents on the exclusive Chelsea Harbour estate, who now have a new view and thousands more neighbours. Among the Chelsea Harbour elite are businessman Sir Ralph Halpern, Vestey heiress Julia Stephenson, Michael Caine, Sally Burton and Tom Stoppard.

London estate agent and property consultant Linda Beaney is a fearful resident of the Harbour. She says experience shows that social housing does affect property values, and she accuses Hammersmith and Fulham council of using new developments as "dumping grounds".

"People with enormous social problems won't change by living in better flats. There have to be genuine management restrictions to deter things such as graffiti and anti-social behaviour. The 50 per cent ratio is too high and won't work."

Tony Carey, managing director of St George, insists the housing mix is balanced and has not deterred the more affluent buyers.

"One of the qualities of London is that it is a mixed city where people live in harmony. Mixed communities are nothing new.î Nearly 200 homes have been sold. Currently, prices for the private homes start at £379,950 for a two-bedroom apartment (738sq ft). A crescent of 12 town houses priced from £2,449,950 has just been released. A £3.5 million penthouse is under offer, and one buyer has splashed out more than £5 million knocking two apartments into one luxury riverside home.

Carey concedes that St George needs to secure high values in order to subsidise the cost of the "planning gain" demanded by Hammersmith and Fulham council. The evidence so far is that the high ratio of affordable housing is not putting a brake on values at Imperial Wharf. Homes are selling for between £500 and £800 a sq ft, a record for this part of Fulham, which traditionally has been the cheaper end of the borough.

"The area is being gentrified and values will rise further if the railway station goes ahead," says Henry Woods of local estate agent Douglas & Gordon. It is selling a three-bedroom, end-of-terrace house in Furness Road, SW6, for £400,000 so, ironically, though the new development is being made available to the less well off, they will be priced out of the surrounding area.

The proposed station is on the boundary with Chelsea Harbour and will have connections to West Brompton and Clapham Junction stations. Without it, there are genuine reasons to believe local streets (which are already highly congested) leading into King's Road will become gridlocked and, according to Beaney, "a complete nightmare".

Under the terms of the planning consent, St George has been forced to set aside money for the station, but it has no power over the bodies - Railtrack and Silverlink - which will have to agree to upgrading existing track and operating it. St George says progress is being made.

Social climbing

The affordable housing at Imperial Wharf is made up of six types of tenure. About 500 homes will be allocated by the local council, with priority going to those having a history of being good tenants.

Shared ownership (part buy/part rent) accounts for another 125 homes. These are likely to prove popular with young people with roots in the area who cannot afford to get on the property ladder.

There will be 50 homes for the elderly and another 50 for "discount rent" (aimed at key workers, who would get a 40 per cent reduction).

The council will also nominate tenants for 25 "discount saleî homes (where people can buy at 30 per cent below market value). The last component is student housing (about 160 bed spaces). The first tenants will move late next year.

Key questions

While councils favour social housing for rent because it takes people off their waiting lists, developers prefer the low-cost market or keyworker housing, which has a better image and could be easier to sell alongside expensive flats.

Since 1996, developers have had to meet a quota of social housing, typically 25 per cent at schemes of more than 15 homes. Livingstone has sought to increase the threshold to 50 per cent.

In St Albans, Hertfordshire, Laing recently won a landmark appeal to build six key-worker homes aimed at those earning less than £25,000 a year, rather than social rented housing. Other developers may now try to flex their muscles.

Most developers feel social housing quotas amount to a property tax and are making projects unviable. One result is more small developments of less than 15 units because then they do not have to provide social housing.

Geoff Marsh, managing director of analyst London Residential Research, highlights another problem: "The higher proportion of affordable housing on new developments, the lower the number of private homes, and it's the shortage of private-sector homes in London that is the root cause of very high prices and the affordability crisis."

So will Imperial Wharf succeed as a social mix? Marsh believes the omens are good. "There is no 'pepper potting'. The affordable housing is separate from the private housing, which mainly gets the river views.

"But large, landscaped areas of the estate will be 'public realm', open to all. Visually, the private and affordable housing will look similar, not 'them and us'."

How the estate is managed will be the single decisive issue that determines whether it remains a fine place for all social groups to live.

'I wanted to get in early to get the best value'

James Richardson-Chapple, 28, paid £544,000 for a three-bedroom, three-bathroom flat at Imperial Wharf. "I was looking for a good location and a place with potential for capital growth," he says. "The fact that it's a big mixed development didn't bother me. I suppose the lifestyle thing was a big draw: the river, the restaurants and bars.

"I know it will be a construction site for some time yet, but I wanted to get in early to get the best value."

James, who runs a small property design company, currently rents a flat in Mortlake. His apartment at Imperial Wharf is due for completion in December. It's on the sixth floor of a 10-storey building and has a river view. "I'm really looking forward to living there. My big concern is the promised railway: I just hope it does materialise."

 

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