Mayor of London looks for developer for St Ann’s Hospital site

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has begun looking for a development partner on the St. Ann’s Hospital site in Haringey.

City Hall plans to build a minimum of 700 homes on the site — with an aim of closer to 800 — of which 60% will be ‘genuinely’ affordable.

It is also hoped that St. Ann’s will host one of the largest community-led housing schemes in London, with 50 of the affordable homes set aside for community-led housing.

James Murray, Deputy Mayor for housing & residential development, said: ‘St Ann’s is a very exciting project, which we have made sure will see hundreds of genuinely affordable homes built — including council homes, homes for social rent, and community-led housing.

‘We are showing what can be done with the public sector taking a clear lead. We want to do far more of this, and so the Government must give us and councils the powers and funding we need to turn London’s housing crisis around.’

The Greater London Assembly (GLA) purchased two-thirds (7.1 hectares) of the St. Ann’s Hospital site from the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust in March 2018, using money from its Land Fund.

Although planning permission had previously been given for around 400 homes on the site, only 14% of these were set to be affordable.

Frustrated residents created the community land trust St Ann’s Redevelopment Trust (StART), which asked City Hall to step in and purchase the site.

As part of the Mayor’s plans, apart from the affordable homes set aside for community-led housing, 60% of the affordable homes will be at social rent levels, while 20% will be London Living Rent and 20% will be shared ownership.

The London borough of Haringey will have the option to acquire half of the proposed homes at social rent level, meaning that the site could deliver at least 100 rented council homes at council rents.

At least 22 homes at London Living Rent may also be given to the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust for 10 years to ensure that staff can be housed locally.

Cllr Emine Ibrahim on Haringey Council said: ‘The council has been clear that it wants a significant number of council homes on the site for the purpose of delivering on our commitment to prioritise council housing as our preferred tenure.

‘We look forward to working with the GLA and the community to ensure that the scheme is the best possible for Haringey and for residents.’

City Hall aims to appoint a development partner by spring 2020, with building to start on-site by the end of 2022.

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