Hondo Enterprises – a property developer whose director is Taylor McWilliams of DJ collective Housekeeping – has applied to build a 20-story office tower alongside a heritage site in Brixton. Historic England has launched an online petition in hopes of preventing the venture from moving forward.
Brixton Buzz reported that Heritage England had objected to the development in August on the grounds that the building would significantly alter the view from the adjacent heritage site. In their petition, the public organization note that the Lambeth Council is working closely with Hondo to approve the development.
“Right now, Lambeth Council planning officers are working with Hondo Enterprises (owner of the majority of Brixton Market) to push through and approve Hondo’s planning application to build a 20-storey office tower in central Brixton alongside the heritage areas of Brixton Market and the Brixton Recreation Centre, against the advice of Historic England, The Brixton Society, Right of Light Consulting chartered surveyors, local MP (and former town planner) Helen Hayes, and Coldharbour Councillor Scarlett O’Hara,” reads a passage of the petition’s description. “Of the 860 public comments left about the proposed development on Lambeth Council’s website, 848 are objections, five are neutral and only seven are in support!”
The office tower controversy is not the first time Hondo Enterprises has elicited the ire of locals for proposed activity in Brixton. Earlier in the year, a similar petition led the company to backtrack on plans to evict local business Nour Cash & Carry from the Brixton Market complex. The ensuing backlash included a scathing The Quietus review of Housekeeping’s May EP, Faces, that shed light on McWilliams’ business practices in particular and prompted the group to go dark on social media.
At the time of writing, over 2,500 people have signed Historic England’s petition. Learn more about it via Change.org.
