Residents have complained of a ‘grave oversight’ by a planning authority, claiming that unauthorised works were carried out to the estate’s grade II* listed Crescent House under the government’s Decent Homes programme.
Under a contract to modernise 70 kitchens and bathrooms, a number of original screens between the kitchens and living rooms were removed and replaced with ‘bodged’ new versions based on a prototype.
Following complaints, the local authority held a meeting with English Heritage and has now applied for listed building consent for the remaining work.
Crescent House resident Roland Jeffery said: ‘Ten kitchens have been gutted… and my elderly neighbour is very upset. She said that she really didn’t want the original features ripped out but was told that if she wanted modernisation, it was all or nothing.’
Fellow resident Nigel Smith said the authority had also ignored listing building management guidelines for the estate recently drawn up with the help of Avanti Architects.
He added that original screens, made of teak with horizontal glazed and painted sections, had been replaced with vastly inferior MDF screens.
The Golden Lane Estate has won a series of Housing Design Awards including the Award of Awards in 2008.
A City of London spokesman denied that works to date had required listed building consent or had breached the estate’s management guidelines.
A spokeswoman for English Heritage said it was satisfied that works were ‘in the spirit’ of the original design.
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