Penrhyn Road, Kingston: mixed-use redevelopment approved

Planning permission has been issued for the redevelopment of 79 Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, following Maddox Planning’s work on a constrained urban infill site in a prominent corner location. The approved scheme will replace a former tyre and autocare workshop with a new mixed-use building comprising 331 sq m of ground floor commercial space and 10 residential units, together with amenity space, cycle parking, refuse storage and blue badge parking provision.

The site sits within a mixed townscape on the junction of Penrhyn Road, Southsea Road and Surbiton Road, within the Surbiton Road Local Centre. The proposal brings forward a car-free residential-led scheme on previously developed land in a sustainable location, at a time when the borough cannot demonstrate a five-year housing land supply. Officers gave significant weight to the delivery of new homes on the site, while also recognising the role of replacement Class E floorspace in supporting the vitality of the local centre.

A key issue through the application was how far the site could be intensified while maintaining an acceptable relationship with neighbouring development. That required careful attention to height, massing, privacy and outlook, particularly in relation to adjoining student accommodation and nearby residential properties. The final permission carries targeted controls on the roof-level plant, privacy screening and management of the third-floor escape route, reflecting the level of detailed design and amenity work needed to bring the scheme to an acceptable form.

Viability and technical delivery were also central to the planning strategy. The scheme does not provide on-site affordable housing, but secures an off-site contribution, with the committee material confirming that revised drainage requirements and associated cost changes fed directly into the final viability position. In practice, this was not simply a design case. It was a planning balance exercise shaped by housing delivery, employment retention, drainage, neighbour impact and deliverability.

The issued permission allows a poor-quality former commercial building to be replaced with a more efficient and policy-compliant mixed-use scheme, while securing strong environmental performance, including a 67% reduction in regulated CO2 emissions and long-term biodiversity management. What emerges is a good example of the planning opportunities available on small urban brownfield sites where the strategy is grounded not just in design quality, but in the detail of how a scheme will be delivered.

79 Penrhyn Road is a good example of the planning opportunities available on small urban brownfield sites where the strategy is grounded not just in design quality, but in the detail of how a scheme will be delivered