Man wages struggle with council over big GLASS TUNNEL

Residents on a Millionaire’s Row in London are divided over one owner’s plans to link two houses with a wavy glass tunnel.

Mansour Namaki wants to link his Grade I-listed Regency villa – which was designed by James Burton in 1828 – to the mews house that also sits on the land.

He has hired Gherkin tower designer Ken Shuttleworth to design a ‘striking’ glass walkway that will join the two properties in the Regent’s Park Conservation Area.

But the design of the tunnel has caused upset with conservation trustees.

Camden Council previously refused to grant building consent and Mr Namaki is now waiting for a decision on his appeal.

Mansour Namaki wants to link his Grade I-listed Regency villa – which was designed by James Burton in 1828 – to the mews house that also sits on the land

Mansour Namaki, pictured with his wife Fariba Namakiat, right, has hired award-winning British architect Ken Shuttleworth to work on the development  

According to the council, the walkway’s ‘sculptural form would be a deliberately striking intervention which would over-compete with the architectural forms of the historic building and would demand attention.’

Richard Simpson, chair of Regent’s Park Conservation Area Advisory Committee told MailOnline: ‘We asked the council to reject it and they did. Now we are waiting for the appeal decisions It’s a very interesting house historically. 

‘This walkway would be a completely inappropriate addition both in terms of its scale, as it is two storeys, and its design. Its exotic curvy glazing which is really quite inappropriate. We were also concerned about climate change – should we be building glass houses? There are over heating concerns. We should all be setting an example and taking the climate crisis into account.

‘It’s possible that an application for a walkway could be accepted. We are not saying he can’t as several others have but they should be much more modest. The buildings need to be respected.’

In a report, Historic England said the ‘traditional separation’ of the ville and mews would be ‘eroded’ by the walkway.

It added: ‘Its waved form which curves over the window on the rear elevation of Gloucester Lodge is architecturally at odds with the orthogonal planning of the rest of the terrace.

‘The resulting clash of forms, and the protrusion of the building into the courtyard, is likely to lack context or subservience to the Grade I listed building. Historic England considers the result to be a harmful intervention to an otherwise highly significant historical composition.’

The controversial glass structure was designed by the architect responsible for The Gherkin, pictured

While some residents on the street were sympathetic towards Mr Namaki’s planning battle – others say he should know better than to go up against the tight planning rules around Listed homes.

One pro-Camden Council resident said: ‘The rules are there for a reason. These houses are Listed and the rest of us have to abide by the restrictions. If Historic England has refused to approve it then they will have valid reasons for doing so.

‘The plans aren’t in keeping with the architecture. If he wants to build something modern he shouldn’t have bought a Listed home – they are very strict in the conservation area about what can and can’t be changed.’

However one neighbour said: ‘A lot of people did this kind of work connecting their house to the mews before planning laws were tightened up.

Planners suggested the striking glass structure may take away from the overall look of the historic Grade I-listed property

‘I would like to do it myself as my teenage daughter would like to live in the mews house but at the moment I’m not comfortable with it as the houses aren’t connected.

‘We have our garage in there and we do our laundry there. The bins are also out there so we have to walk through the garden every time we want to take out the bins which is horrible in the winter.’

She said getting permission to do any work on the houses, which were built in the 1800s, was ‘very difficult’.

She said: ‘We have six floors and we are not allowed to have a lift. We can’t have air conditioning and we can’t even have the oven extractor so that the air is released outside because we aren’t allowed to cut into the walls.’

She said of Mr Namaki’s plans: ‘We don’t really have an issue with it. You wouldn’t be able to see the walkway from our house or from the street.’

Another resident said: ‘People should be allowed to enjoy their homes how they want to.

‘Other people have built walkways between their houses so they should be able to do what they want. As long as the structure isn’t interfering with how much light the neighbours are getting I don’t think there’s an issue with how it looks.’