NEW CAFE PLANS FOR PARK UNVEILED
PLANS TO build a new cafe in Crystal Palace park to replace the exisiting one close to the Thicket Road entrance have been submitted to Bromley council for consideration.
In various design and access statements consultants say the cafe is cut into the hill side. This has two implications.
Firstly it means that the cafe has very little presence on the lake, being almost entirely below the level of the path.
Secondly users of the cafe have no view across the lake, despite being sat only a few meters away from it. Users who are not familiar with the layout of the park would not be aware of the lake whilst using the cafe.
In a second design and access statement consultants say: “The new building is situated in the same location as the existing cafe but its orientation has been shifted to be perpendicular to the park’s central axis.
“By doing this the building becomes the centre point of a new universally accessible route between the central axis and the lakeside path.
“The first floor of the cafe is physically connected to the lakeside path via a bridge, allowing the cafe to be accessed from lake. “Large amounts of glazing on the first floor provide expansive views of the dinosaur models across the lake.”
The ground floor of the cafe will provide 60 covers internally, public W.C.s and an external service kiosk. Space for a full catering kitchen is provided at this level.
A new ground floor terrace provides approximately 50 external covers. The first floor of the cafe will provide a multipurpose event space that can seat 60 with an external covered terrace.
The event space will be available for use by local community groups and for hire as a venue. It is also envisaged that the first floor will be used by the cafe during day to day operation to provide a second service point at lakeside path level during busy periods.
This event space has commanding views across the lake of the dinosaur models. There is also a potential small meeting space to the north of the first floor which can be used by smaller groups.
The first floor terrace is connected via a bridge to the lakeside path, improving the buildings connectivity with the lake and providing a second point of access to the building.
There is an open fire at the north end of both the ground and first floor rooms to encourage use of the cafe by park users during the winter. themselves within the park.
The building contains a lift which will be accessible to park users too.
A picture caption in the document states: “New cafe will pay for ongoing maintenance of the park.”
The third part of the design and access statement says: “We propose several ecologically friendly strategies or elements that are designed to make this building as sustainable as possible.
“These will include: A full rain water harvesting system which will reduce the amount of water the building draws from the mains water supply; Bat boxes will be built into the lakeside elevation of the cafe to increase the number of bat habitats within the park’
Insulation made from recycled newspaper will be used in all external walls and roofs. This has a substantially smaller carbon footprint than standard insulation.; Cedar shingles and laminated timber structures will be sourced from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or PEFC ( the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) certified providers where possible;
Hot water underfloor heating with smart energy meters will be used throughout the building. This will reduce the amount of energy used by the cafe
The operator will ensure that the building and the café service is open to the public seven days a week all year round, with the exception of the Christmas bank holidays.
As a minimum, the operator will ensure that the cafe is open 8am to 4pm on weekdays, 9am to 5pm on Saturdays, and 10am to 4pm on Sundays. The operator could extend these hours throughout the year or seasonally in line with their business plan.
The cafe will hold no more than 70 evening events each year with a latest event end time of 11pm. The proposed cafe is approximately 55 metres away from the closest residential building, which is on Thicket Road. The relocation of the cafe moves the building further away from Thicket Road.
As part of their initial design development consultants say they looked into the possibility of refurbishing the existing building and adding a second storey.
But the existing structure is not capable of taking the weight of an extra floor and the existing walls and glazing do not meet current building regulations standards.
It was therefore deemed impractical to try and redevelop the existing building.
To view the full plans go to Bromley.gov planning and search Crystal Palace park under applications.
15/03106/FULL1
Alternative Reference PP-04351310
Address Crystal Palace park cafe Crystal Palace park Thicket Road Penge.
Proposal: Demolition of existing single storey cafe and terrace and erection of two storey building comprising cafe on ground floor and cafe/ event space on first floor; external ground and first floor terraces and construction of connecting bridge from first floor terrace to lakeside path
Raising the cafe higher may give its patrons a view of the lake but only at the cost of spoiling the view from and across the Lake.
The comment – “users of the cafe have no view across the lake” is NOT accurate. On the second level, users both inside and on the terrace will have fabulous views over the lake and will see the dinosaurs in their landscaped area at the other end. There is an accessible walkway to link from the cafe terrace to the lakeside paths. So there will be a real fit of the cafe into the park and lake landscape.
NEWS FROM CRYSTAL PALACE: Ray. Many thanks for your comment. I have gone back to the planning application documents on the bromley.gov website. One of the supporting documents dated 22 July 2015 contains the following:
“DESIGN AND ACCESS STATEMENT Under ‘View from the lakeside path’ it states:
The cafe is cut into the hill side. This has two implications. Firstly it means that the cafe has very little presence on the lake, being almost entirely below the level of the path. Secondly users of the cafe have no view across the lake, despite being sat only a few meters away from it. Users who are not familiar with the layout of the park would not be aware of the lake whilst using the cafe.”
News From Crystal Palace hopes this clarifies the matter.