Camden Employment Land Review
Roger Tym & Partners was appointed in 2008 to assess employment land needs in Camden as part of the evidence base that informs Camden Council's Local Development Framework. We recommended that:
- if it wants to meet commercial demand and London Plan targets, Camden should safeguard existing offices in the Midtown (Central London) area against redevelopment for housing or other uses
- the Council should encourage the development of new offices in Midtown. Positive policies will not be enough for this: development control processes must also be made flexible and user-friendly
- the Council should monitor the impact of the mixed-use policy, which requires office developments to also provide housing up to 50% of total new floorspace, to ensure that it does not discourage office development
With regard to industry and warehousing, we found that the land market was tight, with a definite shortfall of supply against demand, mainly due to market pressures to redevelop sites for housing. Many housing developers argue that there is no demand for these uses in the borough, but they are wrong. Camden is a good location for many light industrial / distribution activities. It is especially attractive to businesses that provide goods and services to Central London and seek clean, modern, small-to-medium units within easy reach.
To meet this demand, we identified those industrial sites which were still attractive and viable and should be protected. We also recommended the Council manage its own estate better, perhaps through joint ventures with commercial developers, and find sites for new small-scale industrial development, probably around railway lines. It would be unrealistic to expect that mixed-use schemes would deliver small industrial units.
