Demolition of Cundy Street Apartments proceeds

The Cundy Street Apartments were demolished on 3 June 2023. Image courtesy of Roll The Dice.

Over the course of 2022-23, UDRO was informed by local residents that the Cundy Street Apartments, situated in Belgravia, London, were subject to demolition plans initiated by the Duke of Westminster. The Apartments were not only a unique example of post-war art deco, but also had several notable occupants, including:

• Camilla Parker Bowles (now, the Queen);

• Alec Douglas-Home (former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom);

• David Mellor (former Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Secretary of State for National Heritage);

• Richard Luce (former Lord Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth II);

• Lord Charteris (former Price Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II);

• Lord Westmoreland (former Master of the Horse); and

• The Dowager Duchess of Acorn.

For this reason, the Cundy Street Apartments became known as London's "aristo-flats" and began to form part of London's cultural heritage. Perhaps the most controversial episode associated with the Apartments was that they were the site of the early courtship between the now King and Queen.

For the duration of their life, the Apartments remained in good condition, bringing strong historical and aesthetic contributions to Belgravia.

The Duke of Westminster, however, had other plans.

Extract from Cundy Street Quarter development brochure, published 2022

In June 2021, Grosvenor Properties, an international development firm owned by the 7th Duke of Westminster, was granted planning permission by Westminster City Council for the comprehensive development of the Cundy Street Apartments and surrounding area.

Under the proposals, the existing buildings would be demolished and replaced with a 150-home complex, comprising 88 affordable units. The area was to be restructured to create a "new public realm" through the connecting of two locally significant squares. 65 trees were proposed to be planted with 55,650 sqft of green space provided across the neighbourhood.

Locals responded in force, creating a local campaign group (Save Cundy Street) and contacting other organisations for assistance, including UDRO.

Local residents told UDRO that much of the planning behind the project had occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, such that residents were not consulted sufficiently and little opportunity given for meaningful opposition to the project. Consultations only took place, residents said, once the proposals had been crystallised such that any comments never had a real opportunity to change the proposals.

In submissions to the relevant bodies, UDRO also argued that the history of the buildings had not been given adequate weight in Westminster City Council's decision to approve the project. The decision, for example, did not even mention that the buildings were the former residence of the Queen, nor that it was the site of the early courtship of the King and Queen. UDRO argued that these historical facts were a material consideration and that Westminster City Council had failed to take into account material considerations, thereby rendering its decision vulnerable to judicial review.

Additionally, the mass displacement of long-established residents, which resulted in the up-rooting of a community, was not justified by the creation of a similar number of new residential units, none of which (as far as UDRO was aware) were offered to the existing community.

After years of opposition by community groups and national organisations like UDRO, demolition proceeded in June 2023, one month after the coronation of the King.

Conrad O'Callaghan, UDRO's Director of Interventions, said in a statement: "This is a very tragic loss to London. These beautiful flats, with all their history and what they represent, are now a memory of the past."