RAINES DAIRY (Peabody Trust)

DEVELOPER
Peabody Trust

LOCATION
Stoke Newington, north London

STAGE
Due for completion Autumn 2003

SCALE
8 live/work flats, incorporating studio workspace o­n the ground floor of a multi-storey block of 53 shared ownership flats. Each unit has a separate workroom fronting o­nto a busy street.
tenure: long leasehold at full market value

FUNDING
Peabody Development Finance, Housing Corporation SHG for shared ownership flats

TARGET MARKET
Micro businesses from across London, Stoke Newington has many craft businesses.

DEFINING FEATURES
Live/work leases have been drafted with no particular constraint o­n sales or assignment to preserve live/work uses. Site has no particular logic as live/work, it is provided essentially as a planning condition to retain some employment use o­n site. Modular construction project is delivering high quality of internal finish. This addresses key concern of live/workers at Peabody Trust's first site at West Ferry, where high internal fit out costs proved a major hurdle

'This is an example of development-driven live/work, where the success of the scheme as a location for live/work will be essentially a happy accident. Principled resistance to planning pressure for live/work or employment uses could have made a point but remains very difficult under current UDP - where employment sites are protected and their release to residential resisted. Indeed the scheme application received strong resistance from Renaisi, the council's economic development advisers, as a site suitable for provision of traditional light industrial sheds for local businesses. Clearer guidance from central government o­n housing use priority may avoid fig leaf uses like this,' says David Tannahill, head of commercial initiatives

CONTACT
David Tannahill, Peabody Trust