Thousands of new homes could give one of London’s eternal ugly duckling suburbs the chance to finally emerge a swan.
The £500m College Green scheme is London’s first major housing development to come forward since the election.
The high density development will create 1,600 new homes, built in a cluster of 11 blocks standing 28 stories tall. If approved the development will transform the skyline of low rise Willesden forever.
The circa 10 acre site is currently occupied by a further education college which plans to relocate to Wembley, and the developer is The Hill Group, credited for breathing fresh life into central Cambridge with its CB1 development. Nobody from the company was available for comment.
Brent Council planners are now considering the proposals, and work could start as early as next year - if the council can overlook the fact that only 20 per cent of the development is earmarked as affordable housing for people priced out of the local area rather than the 50 per cent in the council’s strategic plan.
Meanwhile another 301 homes, some 17 per cent affordable, have already been approved for a second site on Dudden Hill Lane, which will come with a café, gym, supermarket, allotments and open spaces.
Developer London Square has confirmed it will start work n March, and the first residents will be able to move in at the end of 2027.
New homes have a habit of smashing local price ceilings, and dragging up surrounding house prices. But right now Russell Cox, area manager of Daniels estate agents said buyers could pick up a period two bedroom flat for between £450,000 and £500,000, or a four bedroom house for around £800,000 – making Willesden one of Zone 2’s more affordable options.
“There is a demand because Willesden is a great location, it is easy to get in and out of London, and it is also quite reasonable compared to Queen’s Park or Kensal Green,” he said.
Buyers are a mix of first time buyers as well as people trading up from flats to houses. Local movers rub shoulders for those moving in from more expensive parts of north and west London, said Cox.
“Prices have been pretty steady in the past year,” he added. “I don’t expect much change this autumn. I think it is going to be steady for the next 18 months, and then prices will probably start to rise. But only if interest rates go down, if the Government doesn’t bring anything in that is going to affect the market, and if nothing happens globally.”
The new Hill development will include shops, cafes, workspace, and a gym which will provide a welcome break from the tired parade of takeaways and convenience stores along Willesden’s High Road and Walm Lane – a Gail’s Bakery is the only obvious sign of imminent gentrification.
Cox blames the state of local facilities partly on the scale of this mile-long stretch of shops. “If you look at somewhere like Kensal Rise it has got a much more compact parade,” he said.“You might find that it starts to change over the next five years as more and more people move in from more expensive areas then the whole area starts to gentrify a bit more. At the moment it is a decent, affordable patch.”
