Current residents will not be excessively concerned about this 10-acre site’s proximity to transport links or the rejuvenated King’s Cross. But for many developers, Pentonville prison in north London is likely to be on the most-wanted list.
“It is most likely to be suited to a residential development and that use will almost certainly drive the highest value,” said Matt Haycox, head of development consultancy at Hamptons International. “Likely buyers are the large London house builders who have the funds and can phase the development over a number of years.” International developers may also be interested, he said.
In 2007, the 13-acre Chelsea Barracks site was bought for £1bn, but it seems unlikely Pentonville will attract anywhere near that price tag. Recently, the Valuation Office put the price of a hectare of land in Islington at £52m, which would put it at £210m. However, the price was for land with planning permission, and without that, experts suggest it may be worth just half as much.
For the firm that can raise the funds there could be rich pickings - one-bedroom flats in the area are selling for around £500,000, while two-beds change hands for £650,000 to £700,000, according to estate agents Stirling Ackroyd. Haycox said there could be space for as many as 2,000 homes.
Nick Davies, head of residential development at Stirling Ackroyd, said developers “would love it”. He added: “There’s the big development going on at King’s Cross at the moment and Islington is a prime market anyway.”
Davies said while the front of the prison was “interesting” the rest was “fairly dull. You could do something with the facade, but the rest will probably be a knock-down and rebuild.” Maintaining some of the character would, he said, appeal to buyers. “Some of the new builds are just two-bedroom boxes - if they can create something a bit different, maybe with some exposed brickwork, people will want to buy it.”
There is a precedent for highlighting a building’s criminal-housing past. A former Oxford prison has been converted to the Malmaison hotel, where guests pay hundreds of pounds a night to lock themselves in a “Cell superior double” - described as a “spacious double cell room in the A-Wing”. The bedrooms may have been upgraded (even the Daily Mail doesn’t imagine the originals to have been as luxurious) but the building’s history is apparent throughout.