RE: DC/19/113332 – proposal to build up to 27 storey tower behind a ‘facade’ of Scott House.

DNA, as the local designated Neighbourhood Forum are writing to object to this current proposal on several grounds:

1. Richard Katona a local resident’s view:”Death-masking” is just a pejorative term for “facadism”. There’s nothing especially wrong with “facadism” itself. The Woods’ 18th Century architecture in Bath was built upon facadist principles and that city is today a World Heritage Site. A lot of nineteenth century commercial buildings were self-consciously constructed as facades that could be easily adapted to the needs of subsequent owners; and that’s as much a part of those buildings’ histories as are the facades themselves.However, a particular instance of facadism may well be inappropriate and aesthetically unacceptable. In my view, facadism is wrong when it becomes a form of deception, which I suspect is what is planned for the Scott building. To be valid, I believe that any adaptation has to pay aesthetic homage, in some way,  to the original facade.
2. DNA were funded by Locality to have a Character and Heritage Report carried out for the Neighbourhood Plan and AECOM recommended that Scott House becomes a listed building.  The origins of Scott House were that it was a manufacturer of decorated tin boxes providing over 800 jobs to people in the local area (Scott House. A.G Scott and Co Ltd): https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/A._G._Scott_andCo  Established in 1890.It is a very important ‘heritage’ building within the Pepys Estate and to build a horrible 27 storey high tower behind it does not lend itself to a sensitive conversion appropriate to the History of the Royal Dockyard and the old history of Deptford – too much of which has already been lost through demolition and so called ‘regeneration’.  This process of ‘death-masking’ heritage buildings needs to be rejected both by the planning department and the Councillors.
3. This site is situated on the corner of Oxstalls Road at the junction with Grove Street, on the corner of The Timberyard – some 1,300 apartments, which together with the proposed 3,500 apartments on convoys wharf and the developments such as Neptune Wharf etc on Plough way would only serve to further increase the densification of this Area to a point that the current infrastructure can’t cope – health services, schools, public transport, parking, etc are all under considerable strain and this could be ‘ the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.’
4. DNA supports all the objections made by Malcolm Cadman of Pepys Community Forum/Voice4Deptford in relation to this applicaton.
5. This application goes against the policies for health and well-being, housing and heritage in the emerging Neighbourhood Plan which is nearing Regulation 14.