In 2022, planning permission was granted for a two storey roof extension to be added to the original elegant Edwardian office block
An application to change the consented plans
Planning permission for 105-121 Judd Street was finally approved in May 2023 for roof extensions (2 extra storeys) with external plant and other alterations to ‘continue the existing commercial use of the building’, with a lab-enabled use being envisaged, to fit with Camden’s “Knowledge Quarter” aspirations. It was, at that time, a speculative scheme, with no specific tenant in mind. During the pre-application consultation period, residents were assured that the building would be focused on data-driven rather than bio-chemical research.
Some residents are concerned that Ashby Capital - the investment company working in partnership with Native Land (who are managing the development) probably always intended otherwise. The building, now branded as KOVA KX, is described on their website [https://ashbycapital.com/activities/kova-kx] as having a 60:40 split of laboratory to office space. “Replete with three brand-new terraces, the five-storey Edwardian facade masks the internal innovation, centred to appeal to tenants in the life sciences sector. Containment Level 2 enabled, the building provides premium lab-ready space along with all of our other top-class signature amenities.” Was the community being encouraged to accept a more intrusive use than that originally proposed?
Well, actually, it doesn’t have this facility yet, as the "amendments" to the original application require further planning permission from Camden Council.
This is because they now have a prospective tenant, for whom they need to tailor the design. This is a charity (for tax purposes) called LifeArc who receive handsome royalties for their early development of a drug called Keytruda that is Merck Pharmaceutical’s top 26 billion dollar sales product. To make the building suitable for their specific purposes requires the Section 73 application. But a Section 73 application is designed to allow for minor amendments - it is surely not appropriate for changes that are so significant that the whole purpose of the original application is overturned?
What is described in this amended application as "minor material changes" includes a massive increase of plant on the roof to remove the toxic waste from two floors of laboratories which will be used to develop humanised antibodies and small chemical products, including toxic solvents that require high security fume cupboards and flues. This means that 5 large flumes i.e. chimneys, will be extending 3 metres above roof level.
Impact on residential amenity​
Proposals for the 7th floor roofscape viewed towards Thanet Street (left) and towards Alexandra Mansions (right)
This is a densely populated residential neighbourhood, and what comes out of the chimneys now - and in the future - will impact on all those who live in the immediate area. The wind’s (changeable) direction and more recently, patterns of "still air", will have an effect too.
Neil McDonald is Camden’s Team Manager responsible for planning applications in the Bloomsbury Area. In his view, “Central London and the borough of Camden already accommodate many secure laboratories in hospitals and university buildings of Containment Level 2….and they have proven to be very safe.”
Note they are in "hospitals" and "university buildings" NOT immediately next door or opposite residential dwellings.
LifeArc scientists have assured us that everything will be fine. But they do not live here. An ‘Odour report’ has been submitted as part of the planning application which says odours will be negligible. But this report fails to provide a full and sufficient description for this view to be accepted in cases like this. We must err on the side of precaution, as the Government's National Planning Framework tells us to do. Then too, how accurate is the Tetra Tech report? It is deliberately vague because right now we do not know what biochemical experiments will be carried out in the immediate term, nor in the future. What mechanism will be put in place to ensure the health and safety of all those who live nearby - for ever? This is not mentioned although it is a requirement that an application of this kind should include a report that does.
A bad smell next door?
Toxic gaseous waste can be downright unpleasant; at worst it can be dangerous and damage health. LifeArc, the prospective tenant, proposes that their biochemical research would involve the release of gaseous waste from sixteen (16) level II containment cabinets situated across two floors within the building into the atmosphere we all breathe. Law prohibits the release of toxic gases but the remedies for breach are retrospective, after the damage is done! We are lobbying for a precautionary approach, firstly by objecting to the idea of industrial scale experiments being conducted in our residential area, and - as a fall back - that a transparent and effective set of reasonable controls will protect our community before a calamity strikes.
Other than the proximity to public transport and "conducive for collaboration", there is no real justification for this kind of laboratory in a dense residential area in WC1. [LifeArc has scientific research facilities in the BioQuarter campus in Edinburgh and the Catalyst Bio Science campus in Stevenage]. It is a big £128 million business. Some of its activities are welcome; some are not. This change of use at 105 Judd Street is definitely not!
But if any part of this Section 73 application does get approval, then we want protection in the form that conditions are clearly set out to prevent the intentional or unintentional release of unpleasant and dangerous gases into our local atmosphere. With changing weather patterns, this is a serious matter. Hot summer days can bring still and lingering air. We are therefore engaging expert professional assistance to define a process that really does protect residents by setting the rules and monitoring day-to-day compliance.
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Impact on heritage and health
Grade 11 listed buildings immediately next door to the new biochemical laboratory research facility - 103 Judd Street (left) and the Thanet Street terrace (right)
105-121 Judd Street lies within the Bloomsbury Conservation Area. There can be no question that the townscape and historic value of Bloomsbury as an example of urban planning is of outstanding national, if not international value and repute.
The original (approved) application to re-design the former RNIB has already altered the roofscape of the Edwardian building. The charming turret will be submerged into the facade of the additional floors. The latest amended application proposes chimneys that will extend 3 metres above the roof, which will (we are told) have minimal visual impact from the street. But they will certainly be visible from residents’ windows of the adjacent mansion blocks. A laboratory flue is not one that fits with the chimneys adorning the roofs of Thanet and Judd Street listed terraces. Nor one that Santa Clause would climb down with his Christmas gifts!
Creating a Level 2 containment laboratory at 105 Judd Street will basically change forever the character of this part of the Conservation Area.
Historic England wrote in response to the original planning application: "The historic scale of 105-121 Judd Street as built in the 1900s and 1920s responded sensitively to that of the Georgian townscape which characterises the Bloomsbury Conservation Area....By substantially increasing the size of historic buildings set within the Bloomsbury Conservation Area in order to accommodate demand for development could bring a lot of incremental change to its character and appearance such that it would risk cumulative harm to its significance."
With the 2023 approval of two additional floors, the ‘incremental change’ has already begun.
And now there is "an additional 7th storey for roof plant" - complete with five three metre chimneys.
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How can this huge change to the roofscape of 105 Judd Street be justified in terms of Camden's own policy DP25, which states that "In order to maintain the character of Camden’s conservation areas, the Council will (g) not permit development that it considers would cause harm to the setting of a listed building? These listed buildings lie immediately next door.
If this Section 73 'amendment' application gets approval, we fear it is likely to create a precedent for more large-scale Life Science laboratories in Bloomsbury, simply because of the ever-expanding "Knowledge Quarter" and in Camden’s view, “labs are safe”.
The statutory consultation period closed on 25 May. But if you are concerned, you can still object - so do so now.
Email: planning@camden.gov.uk and quote the reference application number 2025/1684/P.
This will help bring the application be heard by the full PLanning Committee, who will consider your views. The more comments received, the more your concerns will count, i.e. normal office use is OK at 105 Judd Street but industrial scale research labs - No!