Images of Royal Tunbridge Wells Town Centre
Church Road - Telephone House Site - 2002 / 2003 / 2004


Trinity Church, Hanover House, Telephone House (The Good - The Bad - and The Ugly) - September 2002

This message goes to the Marketing Department of the future Developer of Telephone House site:

Question: - Why do you think BT did not bother about Marketing?
Answer: - Unlike a developer, BT never had to sell or let this building, neither as office space nor as appartments. It was a governmental company.

Question: - Would BT have been able as a PLC to re-develop the site and sell it?
Answer: - BT (Southgate Developments) sold it to a developer, leaving them with the problems.

Question: - Why did BT (Southgate Developments) not keep it as an office building?
Answer: - Difficult to understand why not, as King Sturge, their agent, wrote: "Having had regard to the costs that would be incurred for undertaking these works [refurbishment] and the rents that could be achieved, I am confident that Telephone House could have an economically viable future as an office building."
Doubt: - Tunbridge Wells has a lot of empty office space.

Question: - Will a residential development be sustainable on Church Road?
Doubt: - Standing on Church Road one is soon aware of car pollution, heavy lorries, pubs and bars.

Question: - So, "wrong houses at the wrong places?"
Answer: - Only when you start to sell, will you find out.

Conclusion: - An inspired design, supported by residents would be a start.
A "lazy" design as we face now, will follow the fate of the actual building, "Synchordia House", re-baptised by Thomas Rothermel into "Discordia House" (Telephone House Public Inquiry May 2001).



9 March 2003 - CALA Homes - The Plot is clear: Still no better vision ?


Cala Homes' land - Telephone House site, Tunbridge Wells - View from Church Road to York Road - March 2003

Pretty small the terrain CALA Homes bought - 0.3 hectare or 0.7 acres
Extremely high density they want to achieve - 140 units/hectare or 60 units/acre
CALA Homes want to cram 43 flats onto this land in the Conservation Area of Tunbridge Wells.
Do they really know what they are doing?



20 July 2004 - The vision of the uncompromising developer CALA Homes


Cala Homes Advertisements, Tunbridge Wells - July 2004

Telephone House has been known as a local monstrosity.
This is Cala Homes' vision of replacing it.



CALA Homes prospective buyers will ultimately encounter the same problems as the residents
i.e. lack of privacy, lack of sunlight/daylight, lack of amenities, insufficient parking, living in high density.
Therefore, there is a risk that the CALA Homes development, Church Road / York Road, Tunbridge Wells, will be unsustainable.




Continue to browse the interactive Map of Tunbridge Wells Town Centre

URBAN CRAMMING or URBAN REGENERATION in Tunbridge Wells ?

The Telephone House Neighbours Association, Tunbridge Wells
The aims are to heighten peoples' awareness and concern for the high-density development on Telephone House site,
Church Road / York Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1.