Pimlico estate residents claim their views have been ignored ahead of planning decision

Councillors will soon decide whether to knock down Darwin House on the Churchill Gardens Estate, as well as 23 garages and the scaffolding-clad Balmoral Castle pub left vacant since 2006.

Current residents of the four-storey Darwin House would be moved to a new seven-storey block that will back onto the Pimlico District Heating tower.

And from their new flats, they would then have to watch Darwin house be dismantled before a five-storey block takes its place.

Some 500 neighbours from the 1950s estate, which sits in the Churchill Gardens conservation area, are instead calling on Westminster to extend and refurbish Darwin House.

Residents disagree with the council’s argument that their plan would cause less disruption. They also say a refurb, or “retrofit”, would be far less polluting.

Gordon Haggart, a 35-year-old software developer, said: “They’re taking the mick really.

“Government guidelines [published in 2015] say demolition should be a last resort.

“The council hasn’t released a study into refurbishment. They have just said it would require too much work but haven’t published any evidence of that.

“Our proposal is to extend and refurbish Darwin House.

“One advantage of the council’s plan is that residents would only have to move once, but they would spend years living next to two different building sites.”

Mr Haggart, who has a leasehold with his wife in Shelley House, said the council ran a public consultation that finished in March 2020, although communication stopped until a planning application was submitted in October.

He said that during the consultation “things sounded great, they floated it as an ongoing dialogue, but this stopped when the pandemic began.”

He added: “They listened to our concerns but didn’t do anything with them because this planning application is just based on the original proposal.”

Planning documents show the two new blocks would allow for a net increase of 21 flats, with the total rising from 31 to 52.

In that 52, the number of “community supported” homes for elderly residents would rise from 31 to 34, while the other 18 new flats would be one-bedroom “intermediate rent” homes.

The council said this means that households with gross incomes of £32,000 to £60,000 could afford them.

Debbie Jackson, Westminster Council’s executive director for growth, planning and housing, said: “Our proposals bring 52 new high quality and much-needed affordable homes in the heart of Westminster.

“These include specialist homes for older people at social rent that will give existing residents of Darwin House far more spacious, modern and energy efficient homes than at present, and intermediate homes for those on household incomes from £32,000 to £60,000 who may be unable to afford market rents but do not qualify for social housing.

“As part of delivering benefits for the local community, the new intermediate homes will be offered first to residents in the local area.

“Designs have been considered carefully to complement the existing, highly regarded estate architecture, enhance green space available and to meet sustainability standards to reduce the carbon footprint of the buildings through measures such as triple glazing, solar panels and air-sourced heat pumps.”