
Wednesday 30 August 2017
A former workhouse where the horrendous conditions endured by inmates inspired Charles Dickens to write Oliver Twist is to be turned into luxury flats with a so-called “poor door” — an entrance for owners of affordable homes in the scheme that is separate from the one used by their wealthier neighbours.
Camden Council has granted permission for the Georgian former annex to Middlesex Hospital to be converted into 50 new homes, all luxurious beyond the imaginations of the penniless Londoners who once sheltered there.
The ramshackle Grade II-listed building, originally the Strand Union Workhouse, stands on a prime site in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia W1, close to where Dickens once lived.
New two-bedroom flats in the area usually sell for about £2 million, while a three-bedroom flat in nearby Fitzroy Place is currently on sale for almost £13 million.
Along with a number of new-build affordable flats on about half of the site, there will also be new offices. The plans have been drawn up by the University College London Hospitals Charity, which owns the vacant site.
Profits will go back into the NHS and the affordable homes will be earmarked for health workers.
4 year lawful development rule could end in April 2023
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