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Chelsea Barracks scheme to have public sports complex
Amar Singh, Evening Standard04.09.08
This is the multi-million-pound community sports centre which will form a major part of the Candy brothers' plan for Chelsea Barracks.
Their proposal for Britain's most expensive housing development will be formally presented to Westminster council's planning committee tonight.
The scheme met opposition from some Belgravia residents, including the Earl of Stockton - grandson of ex-prime minister Sir Harold MacMillan - who lives in Warwick Square.
He is so outraged by the design of the 638 flats in the project that he described it as an "insult to the memory of the young men who fought for their country".
But the property developers hope the additional community facilities they are creating as part of the £1 billion scheme - at a cost of tens of millions - will help secure them approval.
The £40 million community sports centre will include a six lane, 25-metre swimming pool, a four-court sports hall, climbing wall, dance studios and exercise equipment.
A spokesman said residents would not get priority access to the facilities, which would be built "100 per cent for the public". It is likely they will be run by the local authority which will set their opening hours and prices.
There will also be a large multi-purpose community hall, a supermarket, a children's playground, landscaped gardens which can be accessed by the public and about 300 new trees.
At the Belgravia end of the development there will be a boutique hotel with two restaurants, a day spa and shops. The private housing will also be concentrated at this end of the four-acre site.
Meanwhile, affordable homes are planned for the north-east side of the development, close to Ebury Bridge Road. The sports centre will also be in this area.
The site is owned by Project Blue, a joint venture by Christian and Nick Candy's CPC Group - which also owns the One Hyde Park development in Knightsbridge - and the Qatari Diar Real Estate. Architects working on the barracks said the 14 main buildings will fit seamlessly into the landscape and are inspired by flats in nearby Sloane Court.
They will be covered by coloured copper panels designed to blend in with the surrounding areas. Christian Candy said: "This site offers an opportunity to deliver one of the most important regeneration projects in London." But in a letter to Westminster council Lord Stockton describes the proposals as "an abomination".
He says the social housing element of the scheme is reminiscent of "the blocks of flats which surround every eastern European city", claims the scale of the proposals is out of keeping with the surrounding area and bemoans the lack of open space.
"This plan is a blot on the landscape," he wrote. "I shall fight you and do all I can to take this particular Candy away from our children and grandchildren."
