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About the consultation

Over the last few years, we have consulted with Huguenot House residents, commercial tenants, and the community on a range of options for the future of Huguenot House. We recently consulted on refreshed options from 9 November 2020 until 15 January 2021. We also prepared a new option for you to consider.

Scroll down to watch a video about our consultation and webinars held during the consultation, a summary of answers to questions raised and key findings from the consultation.

 

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View of Huguenot House and Odeon cinema on Panton Street

Situated in London’s West End, Huguenot House was built in the 1960s for a mixture of residential and commercial use. It was built using podium and concrete slab construction and comprises a cinema, a 247 space car park and 35 residential flats. Sitting on a site of 0.15 hectares the building has ground and eight upper floors and eight half-basement levels.

The surrounding area is currently undergoing major change and there are a number of new developments notably the Edwardian Hotel, the LSQ Building and the St James’s Market development. Together with the improvements to the public realm through the ‘Heart of London Bid’ the local area is undergoing huge transformation.

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Image showing Panton Street and Oxendon Street street sign

For the past two years, we’ve been reviewing your feedback and re-assessing the options in light of the community’s valuable input and the changing regulatory and economic context. We have also launched our City for All strategy during this time, which has informed this work.

Our recent engagement was a continuation of the previous consultation activity and all your feedback to date is being considered along with new feedback before we make a decision. This timeline summarises our consultation with residents since 2017, when we first came to the community with a range of options for Huguenot House.

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Section 105 of the Housing Act (1985) required us to consult specifically with tenants who rent a property from us (secure tenants) where development or housing management proposals include new programmes of maintenance, improvement or demolition or a change in the landlord’s practice or policy that are likely to affect secure tenants.

As part of our recent consultation we gave all secure tenants in the building every opportunity to provide feedback on our proposals by Friday 15 January 2021.

In addition to our secure tenants, we were also delighted to hear comments from a wide range of other people, including our other residents, local organisations and businesses, and members of the wider community.

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We know that many residents are worried about having to move, whether temporarily or in the long term.

Most options would require residents to move, either temporarily or permanently. We are sharing this information so you can be fully informed and are open to meeting with you individually to discuss your specific housing situation.

If a redevelopment option is preferred, a right to return to a new home in the area is guaranteed for all secure tenants and resident leaseholders who want to come back. Please be assured that anyone who needs to move would be fully supported by Westminster City Council in this case. We would work with you to find you a suitable new home and give you financial compensation for the inconvenience.

Get more information

We have also created a booklet to explain the options for consultation in more detail.

Download a copy, or email [email protected] to request a copy via the post or ask us any questions.