City Centre Gentrification: Loft Conversions in London's City Fringe

Abstract

This article examines the role and explanation of loft conversions in Clerkenwell, London, a recent form of middle-class inner city gentrification. This involves the conversion of old industrial buildings into residential use. It is argued that while it caters to a specific sub-market with a strong urban orientation, it is less preference but profitability and planning which are the key drivers of the process. Changes in the economics of industrial, office and residential land uses in London in the early 1990s and subsequently, made residential land use more profitable than industrial or office uses and conversion was permitted by changes in planning and land use classification. This led to a rapid upsurge in the number of planning applications for conversions. Conversions are a developer-led form of gentrification.

Keywords:

• Gentrification
• loft conversions
• land use
• profitability
• inner London

Acknowledgements

This article would not have been possible without a research grant from the ESRC and the generous contribution of those loft dwellers, developers, planners and others in Clerkenwell who kindly allowed themselves to be interviewed. I would also like to thank Drew Whitelegg for his key role in the research project and for carrying out many of the interviews.