HIGHGATE NEW TOWN PHASE 1, CAMDEN Community-led Conservation Guidance for inclusion in the Dartmouth Park Conservation Area and Application for Grade II* Listing

9.2 Summary of impact at HNT
9.2.1 Inspection of buildings and external areas across HNT in 2018-19 identified several areas and types
of interventions which have an ongoing cumulative negative impact. This includes the cabling and
ducting for lights and services which is often cut into buildings and remains in-situ after active use,
the removal of play-areas, fencing of greens and closure of routes, such as that following the former
Retcar Street which negatively impact the flow and use of space of the squares and routes as well
as visual connections central to the design of HNT. The importance of these community-spaces for
residents means their partial closure and lack of maintenance have a particularly significant impact
on daily life at HNT. Given a scarcity of community-spaces of this quality more widely in London and
a lack of funding and support for those that do exist, this represents a key issue.
9.2.2 Other impacts include the replacement of the original bins and bin-housing outside residences
with the large portable containers which obstruct spaces intended for communication and
neighbourliness and impact the visual aesthetic of HNT. Similarly, the standardised signage
and maps introduced by Camden which mark HNT out as an ‘estate’, contribute to a sense of
separateness and conflict with Tábori’s intention that HNT be an integrated part of Highgate. Other
impacts are of a technical nature, such as the alteration and installation of power-showers, etc.
which have impaired the delivery of HNT’s district water and heating systems. These demonstrate
a lack of knowledge about the design of these systems and how they function which could easily
be remedied. The most recent of these impacts comes from ongoing conversion of unused garagespaces
under Stoneleigh Terrace, for the Wood that works community facility which whilst wanted
by residents had insufficient funding for the grills which are features of the only façade detailed to
date as significant in the DPCA to be retained.
9.2.3 This cumulative impact should have been prevented by its Conservation Area status as part of the
DPCA, according to the 2006 Listing rejection (EH 2006). Whilst the adoption of the guidance set
out in this document for DPCA: Sub Area 5 will help address this, the current understanding of HNT
following recent research, clearly demonstrates a national level of significance which should qualify
HNT for Grade II* Listed status. As such, the following tests demonstrate the grounds to support
Grade II* Listing and provide the protection required of a Grade II* Listed asset to support the
conservation guidance being put forward for inclusion in the DPCA.
9.3 Justification for Grade II* Listing
9.3.1 In demonstrating the tests for Listing, the following demonstrates that HNT qualifies as a building
‘from the period after 1945’ which is of high significance (DCMS 2018: 19).
9.4 Architectural Interest
‘To be of special architectural interest a building must be of importance in its architectural
design, decoration or craftsmanship; special interest may also apply to nationally important
examples of particular building types and techniques (e.g. buildings displaying technological
innovation or virtuosity) and significant plan forms’ (DCMS 2018: 16);
9.4.1 HNT’s embodiment of Tábori’s distinct approach to urban renewal, combining aspects of Victorian
Camden with the built-form and externality of the Italian hill-town to create community-focused
design, reveals it as an exemplar of the site-specific approach to housing. This is as much relevant
to the progressive trends at the time of its design as it is to notions of sustainability and community
today (Swenarton 2017 & Davies 2019 pubs). It includes the detailed consideration of how HNT
would function together with Phase 2 and the surrounding streets in creating a piece of city, which
is remarkable when looked at in terms of how its design has weathered the changes to the scheme
under development and remained successful in the long-term. HNT achieves a tangible sense of
informality and intimacy, through the careful arrangement of discrete public and semi-public areas
and a clear sense of proprietorship over ‘street’, with diverse and distinct areas which set it apart
from the other schemes built under Sydney Cook. This design makes manifest ‘eyes on the street’
and other ideas concerning community safety and surveillance from Jane Jacobs, Chermayeff and
the democratic spirit of ‘open-society’ sought by Team 10, the Smithsons and Jaap Bakema etc.
The interpretation of Chermayeff and Alexander’s applied practical approach enabled Tábori to
move from intention of design to its realisation in a scheme which places the anonymous client of
the resident community centre stage. When considered with the diverse influences of Richard and
Su Rogers, Goldfinger, Lasdun, Brown and others HNT, with its eclectic mix of Victorian Highgate
and Italian hill-town, occupies a distinct place within the housing built at Camden in the late ‘60s and
elsewhere.
Previous- Fig. 37: View east along Lulot Gardens (TC)
Next- Fig. 38: The Greens (TD)
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