KPF Receives Planning Consent to Transform Former Chelsea Police Station into Social and Community Facility

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Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) has just received planning consent for Lucan Place in Chelsea, a mixed-use project that provides new homes, nursery, and specialist educational accommodation. The project, a redevelopment of the site of the former Chelsea Police Station, will generate a total of 31 new homes, as well as social and community functions.

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Located at 2 Lucan Place, an area characterized by large inter-war mansion blocks, the eight-story building comprises an efficient mix of new homes, ranging from one- to four-bedroom apartments. The project will also accommodate social and community group uses, including a new nursery and a specialist children’s education and care facility, in its two-story “civic base”.

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Contrasting with the materials and façade articulation of the main residential elements of the building, the lower levels of the building underline social and community uses. Moreover, on the ground- and lower-ground floor, social community space has been designed to meet the requirements for nursery provider Kido, alongside facilities for the social enterprise Mom’s Belief to provide therapy and education for children with developmental difficulties.

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On another hand, “chamfered corners and setbacks at the upper levels relieve the experience of the building mass at street level, with projecting bay windows articulating the corners and serving as amenity to the dwellings”. Using high-quality materials, determined by a study of the immediate and wider Chelsea townscape and close consultation with planners, stakeholder groups, and the local community, Lucan Place seeks to be integrated within the surrounding urban fabric and the citizens of the neighborhood.

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The design of 2 Lucan Place has evolved in close collaboration with our client, Gulf Islamic Investment, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It demonstrates a holistic approach to mixed-use development in a dense urban location. At the heart of the scheme, social and community use for young children and their families will benefit the local community. -- John Bushell, Design Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates.