Council officers said the Barking Road development would “make a positive contribution to the borough’s housing stock”, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

Francis House, Barking Road (credit Google)

Plans to build a fifth storey of flats on top of a former office block in Plaistow have been approved by Newham Council.

Real estate firm Imberstates Ltd is proposing to add the new top floor to Francis House at 760-762 Barking Road.

Council planning officers said the development would “make a positive contribution to the borough’s housing stock”.

Francis House was converted from offices into flats after getting approval from the council in January 2020.

Imberstate Ltd then applied for planning permission to build a new fifth storey containing more flats in April last year.

A planning statement submitted with the application says the developer wanted to build two extra storeys. However, it says that in pre-application discussions council planning officers said this would be considered a “tall building”.

This would have been unlikely to have been approved as the site is outside any of the council’s tall building zones, where taller buildings are permitted.

The planning statement says: “Officers recommended the reduction in height to a single storey, which would result in the tall buildings policy not being applied.

“Officers outlined that if a two-storey extension was progressed, the council would require a broad redevelopment of the existing building and site, to respond better to the context and surroundings.”

Developers opted to apply for a one-storey extension instead, on the advice of council planning officers.

The new floor will contain five flats. Four of them will be one-bed flats and the fifth will have two bedrooms.

Planning officers approved the application last Tuesday (17th).

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