On 23rd January the Royal Brompton gave a presentation on their proposal to redevelop the single-story building on Dovehouse Street which houses some of their imaging equipment. The Chelsea Society was represented at the presentation by the Chairman of the Planning Committee, Michael Stephen, the Planning Committee member for Stanley Ward, Laura Carrara-Cagni, the Planning Committee Member for Royal Hospital Ward, Chris Lenon, and Jane Dorrell a member of Council. The Dovehouse Street Residents’ Association was also represented, and other local residents attended.
The hospital have permission for a new single storey building with two basement levels, but they want to add an additional storey above ground so that they would be able to consolidate all the diagnostic imaging in one building. This would reduce the number of times a patient has to be moved from one building to another on the hospital site.
This makes sense in principle, but the appearance of the Dovehouse Street elevation presented by the architect was not satisfactory and needs improvement. There was also concern expressed by Dovehouse Street residents about the mass of the building and whether it would significantly reduce the view of the sky from the houses directly opposite. They were also concerned about overlooking from the windows of the proposed building, and light-pollution at night from lighting within. It was also felt that suitable trees should be planted on the Dovehouse Street frontage. The Society is engaging with the architects about these issues, and the Chairman of the Planning Committee and the Committee member for Stanley Ward met with them on 6th February.
There was also discussion about the routes which would be taken by construction traffic serving this development and serving the Auriens development of the old Thamesbrook building nearby.
