Developers behind £600million revamp of Ram Quarter, Greenland Group, given green light to make changes to near 300-year-old Grade II houses in Church Row

The development by the Chinese Greenland Group consists of public retail boulevards, restaurants and green spaces, along with commercial premises and 713 private and affordable new homes, ranging from studios to four-bedroom duplex apartments.

The scheme, which also involves the transformation of the 4.5-acre Ram Brewery site, will include buildings two to six storeys in height.  

A Grade II listed terrace of Georgian houses in Wandsworth, Church Row was built in 1723.

Church Row

There are nine houses in Church Row involved in Phase 3, which was passed by six votes to two by Wandsworth’s planning committee, and as well as their restoration, the phase includes 50 new homes, office and workshop space.

The changes to the near 300-year-old houses include a single storey extension built at the rear 1 CR which will provide a conference room and office.

The front walls of numbers 1 to 4 will be demolished, new gates and railings will be added, while 1 and 2 will have their driveway entrances widened. Steps will also be altered.

The interior of 2 to 4 will be altered, the details of which have not been made clear yet.

4 and 5 CR will be changed from residential to office use and a single storey workshop will be built at the back of both, with an additional warehouse on 5.

The Wandsworth Society worries the development will "loom" over Church Row 

A “glazed dome enclosure” will be added to the interior of 4 while a single story extension will also be added to the back of 6.

7 to 9 will be converted into flats two-storey building into four one-bedroom flats and a three storey building will be built fronting the river to form three one-bedroom flats.

The houses on the terrace form 16 of the 50 residential units to be delivered.

Wandsworth Society objected on the planning application, stating the development would “harm the setting” of the Grade II houses, that it would result in a “gross overdevelopment of a very sensitive site” and “lacks proper access and amenity space” for the planned dwellings.

David Kirk, chairman of the Wandsworth Society, said: “The Georgian houses of Church Row are widely regarded as the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Wandsworth Town.

“An earlier scheme by the previous developer offered acceptable re-development.  The current scheme is gross ‘over-development’ and will spoil views of the terrace from front and rear. 

“The council’s own Conservation Area Advisory Committee objected strongly, as did the Wandsworth Society. 

“The Councillors’ decision is shameful and very sad. The benefits, including commercial ones, do not outweigh the damage that will be done to our local heritage.”

A spokesperson for the Greenland Group said: “Greenland Group worked with Wandsworth Council’s Conservation Officer, as well as Historic England, on the plans for the terrace and will continue to work closely with them to ensure that these listed buildings are sensitively brought back into residential use.

“With the final phase of The Ram Quarter approved, Greenland Group looks forward to completing the development and unlocking a new urban quarter for Wandsworth.”

The third phase of the mixed-use development was approved on July 20.