Tottenham Hotspur have been granted approval to transform an area of land as part of ‘phase three’ of their £1.2billion stadium complex.
The latest approval comes hot on the heels of the club being granted permission by Haringey Council on Friday to increase the capacity of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium by 547 seats, pushing it up from 62,303 to 62,850.
Then on Monday night, the council’s planning sub committee granted approval, on the recommendation of their planning department, for the ‘Northumberland Terrace’ – the third phase of the club’s stadium complex masterplan.
The work will transform the space behind the High Road to the north west of the stadium, in the area between the club’s Lilywhite House offices, Sainsbury’s and the road.
That northern end of the plans had been reconsidered and an application made to Haringey Council back in July.
Tottenham own the terrace of listed buildings from 790 to 814 in that area of the High Road and the car park behind them.
Among those buildings is Percy House, the headquarters of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, the club’s charitable arm.
That building has been restored to its former glories inside and out as will the other buildings and incorporated into the designs.
Sir Hugh Smithson, the Duke of Northumberland, commissioned the terrace in the early 1740s and it includes ‘Percy House’ at its centre with the flanking Nos. 794 and 798.
Smithson was the inheritor of the fortune and lands of the Percy family of Northumberland, whose ancestor, Sir Henry Percy, commonly known as ‘Harry Hotspur’, inspired Tottenham Hotspur’s name and its famous emblem of a fighting cock.
The transformed area will include new commercial office space ‘catering for use by the creative industry’ and ground floor retail units.
It will also house a music label and recording studio with the club revealing that they already have someone lined up.
“Significant steps have been taken to secure an anchor tenant who is a leading figure in the music industry,” Spurs said in their application.
There will also be a performance space incorporated into the design and public spaces, with the hope that it all links in with the community outreach capacity of Percy House and the potential creative contribution of the students at the London Academy of Excellence – the sixth form based within Lilywhite House.
(Football London)
