AFFORDABLE HOMES
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE – NEW AFFORDABLE HOMES IN A HEADLINE LOCATION! As a charitable housing association working across north and east London, Newlon Housing Trust provides many affordable homes in locations where local people would not otherwise be able to afford to live. Nevertheless, it’s not every day that we can provide new truly affordable rented homes in a genuine headline location
Acorn House is a new nine-storey, 33-home development, situated in one of the most central parts of the borough of Camden. It is just a few minutes’ walk from King’s Cross and St Pancras International and in the historic Bloomsbury conservation area, home to the British Museum, University College London, the British Library and some of London’s most beautiful historic squares. It is also the site of the former home of the National Union of Journalists HQ and just a short walk from the former Times and Sunday Times offices, which were the site of prolonged picketing and the spur for a year of mass strike action in 1986-87 as Rupert Murdoch clandestinely shifted production to Wapping and swept away with traditional print and typesetting. Originally a rather nondescript, mildly brutalist block built after the second world war and before the conservation area was formally created, Acorn House has been replaced by a smart new brick building occupying the same footprint as the NUJ’s former home. The new block provides 33 homes for social rent and below market rates rent for key workers. In an area where private rents are £3,000 a month and upwards for a two bedroom flat, it is an amazing opportunity to be able to provide homes for
around a quarter of this cost to local people in genuine housing need and to support key workers who would otherwise struggle to be able to afford to rent or buy near to their work. Just a stone’s throw from King’s Cross, Acorn House is also only a short stroll from University College Hospital. The building includes a number of environmentally friendly features including air source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels situated at rooftop level to provide low carbon footprint energy
for residents and for the commercial premises on-site. It also includes some very high
specification fire safety features, including a specialist sprinkler system designed to work for commercial units as well as in homes, and bicycle storage with additional smoke and heat detection and protection so that electric wheelchairs and scooters can be safely stored. As well as 33 new affordable homes, the block provides ground floor and basement level commercial and office space. It also features Hangar 9, a communal lounge and roof terrace open to residents, with sweeping views across the city. The perfect place to socialise on a spring or summer’s evening. Up on the sixth floor, you’ll find Playtopia, a play area for small children, and three fully wheelchair-adaptable flats, created with accessibility in mind. It seems a shame the nation’s journalists no longer have a home in such a unique central London location, but it’s a great story that their former HQ will now provide high-quality, truly affordable homes for local people in housing need.
newlon.org.uk
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