CGIs show proposal for nearly 100 homes on Watford factory site

Plans were submitted earlier this month for 94 flats in Rickmansworth Road in Watford.

Two commercial buildings would be demolished and replaced by three blocks of five storeys, along with a community garden, outdoor play area, 46 parking spaces and 159 cycle spaces.

Read more: Plans to demolish Watford factory for nearly 100 flats

Architects Wakelin Associates, on behalf of client Dendron Properties which owns the site, have now shared two computer generated images of what the scheme could look like once built.

CGI of the proposed scheme. Image: Wakelin Associates (Image: Wakelin Associates)

Wakelin Associates says its plans have been through “detailed” consultation with Watford Borough Council and Hertfordshire Highways with the application currently out for public consultation on the council’s planning portal. Two public comments have been received – both objections.

A spokesperson for Wakelin Associates said: “The new scheme offers significant ecological enhancement to the area, which is near Cassiobury Park, proposing a sustainable, residential scheme within an urban parkland setting.

“This is a scheme that exceeds the councils’ own standards for the provision of amenity space and includes a community garden and an outdoor play area. The blocks are five storey in height, with the fifth floor set back."

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They added: “It also includes highway safety improvements; with a new wider access, passing places and landscaping to the road. It will also remove the operational activity of large commercial vehicles ‘to and from’ the site, lorries which currently use the sub-standard, single access directly onto a busy stretch of Rickmansworth Road.”

Outlined in red is the proposed redevelopment site. Image: Google Maps (Image: Google Maps)

Seven three-bedroom properties are proposed to be affordable, but the scheme fails to meet the council's affordable housing provision of 35 per cent. A viability assessment has been submitted which the planning agent says explains why the provision cannot be met.

The site is home to Fleet Laboratories, which operates product development and manufacturing services for the pharmaceutical and toiletry markets.

It was a trading division of DDD Ltd - DDD went into administration in 2020 before being sold to Dendron Brands, a company controlled by Phoenix Labs.

Read more: 7 major planning applications to be aware of around Watford

The entrance to the site

Wakelin Associates says Dendron has no current plans to shut down existing operations on the rest of the site if planning permission is secured.

The plans can be found on the planning portal via reference 22/00958/FULM.

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