Finsgate House in Hackney has moved beyond an officer recommendation after councillors backed a 490-room co-living tower and separate office building near Old Street station on 11 November 2026. The Planning Committee’s reported resolution is conditional on a legal agreement and further Greater London Authority consideration. It is not evidence that a formal planning decision notice has already been issued.
Developer HUB announced the outcome on 12 November, describing plans to replace three older office buildings with a 35-storey residential building and a five-storey workspace block. The scheme includes approximately 4,000 square metres of offices, affordable workspace, a community hub and improved public space.
The Finsgate House decision is commercially significant because it tests how London boroughs accommodate high-density shared living while seeking affordable housing contributions from schemes without conventional flats. The reported financial obligation and the scrutiny of its viability are particularly relevant to developers looking at constrained central-city sites.
What the Finsgate House committee decided
The scheme is associated with Hackney application 2025/2794 for land at Cranwood Street, close to Old Street station. The published committee decision summary records approval of the recommendation at the meeting on Wednesday 11 November, subject to completion of a legal agreement following Stage 2 referral to the Greater London Authority (GLA). That is the council-member stage of decision-making, not confirmation that every outstanding procedural requirement is complete.
Contemporary specialist reports from Construction Enquirer and Building Design likewise describe committee approval. The exact issued decision and final obligation terms should be checked against the council register once available. Calling the outcome a completed unrestricted permission would move further than these records support.
HUB identifies Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, generally known as AHMM, as the architects. The western building would rise to 35 storeys and contain 490 private shared-living rooms, while the shorter eastern building would provide commercial floorspace. The developer also promises better pedestrian routes and landscaping around a site currently occupied by three office buildings.
Why the affordable housing payment matters
The most interesting planning issue may be the financial obligation rather than the height of the tower. Building Design reports that the scheme provides no conventional affordable homes on site and that Hackney officers accepted a proposed £18.2 million payment towards affordable housing elsewhere in the borough. Its report also says the GLA did not regard that sum as the maximum viable contribution.
Those figures and the GLA’s reported position are attributed to specialist reporting. The final signed legal agreement and underlying viability material have not been independently verified here. It would be wrong to treat the £18.2 million as money already paid, or to assume that the precise amount cannot change during the remaining planning process.
For practitioners, the distinction matters. A financial contribution can be central to the planning balance, yet negotiation, legal drafting and any further mayoral process may still affect what must be delivered. Planning Geek’s guide to Section 106 agreements explains why obligations and their enforceable terms have to be considered separately from the headline committee vote.
490 co-living rooms are not conventional flats
The Finsgate House proposal is for purpose-built shared living accommodation, not 490 ordinary Class C3 flats. The application description categorises the residential component as sui generis, with a managed arrangement of private rooms and shared amenities. Marketing material may describe these as homes, but it is important to retain the distinction when discussing use class, occupancy and affordable housing provision.
Large shared-living schemes are often assessed against policy requirements that differ from those applied to self-contained family homes. Their viability can depend on management, communal facilities, room sizes and the income produced by a relatively high number of occupants. That does not remove the need to consider neighbouring residents, daylight, servicing, access and the public realm.
HUB managing director Damien Sharkey described the committee outcome as a “major step forward for our ultra-urban co-living strategy”, according to Construction Enquirer. This is the developer’s assessment, rather than independent evidence that the accommodation will be completed on any particular date.
What is proposed for the Old Street site
The separate five-storey office building is expected to provide around 4,000 square metres of modern workspace. HUB says 10 per cent of that floorspace would be designated affordable workspace for smaller businesses, with flexible community accommodation also incorporated. These uses would sit alongside new public spaces rather than being located within the residential tower alone.
Old Street is a well-connected but intensely developed part of London, and the scale of the proposed tower creates obvious townscape and operational questions. The planning assessment has to address its relationship with surrounding streets, the provision and usability of shared space, construction effects and safe servicing as well as its contribution to housing supply.
Finsgate House would also replace existing offices rather than simply occupy an empty plot. The economic effect of removing that accommodation and substituting a different quantity and grade of workspace should be assessed using the full employment and planning evidence, not inferred solely from the developer’s regeneration claims.
What happens before work can begin?
The immediate next steps are confirmation of the GLA’s Stage 2 position, completion of the legal agreement and publication of the formal local planning decision. Any further conditions would also need attention at the appropriate stage. The present reporting does not establish a commencement date, a contractor appointment or an unconditional right to start building.
For those watching how shared living is treated across London, Finsgate House is worth following for the final affordable housing contribution and any changes between committee resolution and issued permission. Those details may have wider implications than the particular site because they show how local and London-wide policy expectations are reconciled on a high-density scheme.
The Finsgate House vote is therefore an important planning milestone for 490 rooms and associated employment floorspace. It is not the same as physical delivery, nor should the conditional committee outcome be confused with the final approval documents still to be recorded.
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