The original plans won approval in December 2021 but there’s now due to be a law change requiring second staircases in tall buildings, reports James Cracknell

Aerial view of how the whole redevelopment is planned to look when complete (credit Crosstree Real Estate Partners)

Plans for the first phase of a major redevelopment in Edmonton Green are set to be amended to include the addition of second staircases for fire safety reasons.

Crosstree Real Estate Partners, which owns Edmonton Green Shopping Centre, is planning to redevelop the site to build 1,438 homes and create a new retail destination.

As well as the outline proposal for the scheme, detailed plans for the first phase of 350 homes were approved by Enfield Council’s planning committee in December 2021.

However, since then, new rules on fire safety have been drawn up which require buildings over 18 metres to include second staircases. This move has been blamed for causing delays to many major schemes, with parts of the first phase of the council’s Meridian Water redevelopment also needing to be redesigned.

In updated plans now submitted to the council for Edmonton Green, Crosstree has explained what changes it is proposing. While the company says that its original plans “met the fire design criteria at the point of approval” it now wants to “incorporate an additional second stair design on each block of Edmonton Green phase one, to future-proof the development to meet the upcoming regulation change announced by Secretary of State Michael Gove in July 2023, requiring a second staircase in all new buildings with a height of 18m and above”.

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Other minor changes are also included in the revised plans. While the total number of homes proposed and the share of affordable housing remains the same, there is a “minor impact to the consented unit mix” with 17 of the one-bed flats now instead being proposed as studio apartments, while there is also a “minor decrease” of retail floorspace to make room for an additional residential entrance.

Crosstree adds: “It is considered that the alterations proposed as part of this application do not materially change the approved consent and can therefore be considered as non-material amendments.”

When the Edmonton Green Shopping Centre plans were first approved, construction work was expected to begin in 2023, but it’s now likely to be 2025 at least until any work can begin on site.

Plans for the first phase of the scheme, which will front onto Fore Street (credit Crosstree Real Estate Partners)

In the first phase, 109 out of 350 homes (31%) will be classed as affordable, but Crosstree “has committed to 35% of units being delivered as affordable housing” across both phases of the scheme. The first phase will be built over the main car park, meaning no demolition is needed to accommodate it.

Detailed plans for future phases are still to be submitted. While the shopping centre itself will be completely rebuilt, the three existing tower blocks that stand over it – Pennine House, Grampian House and Mendip House, which date to the 1970s and rise to 25 storeys – will be integrated into the new scheme.

The revised plans proposing second staircases can be viewed by visiting the council’s planning portal and searching reference number 23/03882/NMA.

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