Former Arsenal ace Patrick Vieira is to build a new ‘iceberg’ home in Hampstead after he was granted permission to demolish the £3million mansion in its place.
Vieira’s three-storey property in the leafy north London district will be torn down and replaced with a four-storey, five-bedroom palace over more than 9,000sq/ft, plans show.
Camden Council has given them go-ahead after months of wrangling to accomodate neighbours who feared not only months of disruption but also that the new house would overlook their homes and gardens.
Scroll down for video
+4View gallery
How Patrick Vieira’s new house, left, will look in the context of it’s neighbourhood in Hampstead, north London
Plans were lodged with the council more than a year ago under the name of Vieira’s Trinidadian wife, Cheryl Plaza.
The new home, built in dark brick, will be a ‘very private space’ which is ‘set into the gradient of the hillside’ and boasts ‘views across the treetops’.The basement level will include parking for two cars – reached by a car lift and assisted by a mechanised turntable – as well as a cinema room and extensive storage space.
The ground floor will have a gym, games room and bar, swimming pool, solarium and two guest suites; the first floor will have a large open plan kitchen and dining area, as well as a raised lawn area; and the third floor will have the master bedroom and two further bedrooms, all en-suite, and another balcony.
According to reports, Vieira decided to demolish the existing building, which was built in the late 1980s and already includes an indoor pool, after he discovered it was riddled with damp.
+4View gallery
The proposed development as seen from another angle. Neighbours objected to the plans saying that the new house could overlook their homes, cause light pollution and that building work could damage nearby properties
But a flurry of objections, which raised fears that the new property would ruin the character of the conservation area and overlook nearby homes, made planning officials think twice about granting permission.
One neighbour objected to a 20m-long window planned for the main stairwell of the home that he feared would ‘spoil the quite (sic) and dark rural character of the area at night’.
‘I accept that this will not result in overlooking but I am very concerned about the light spill to me and my neighbours,’ he wrote.
‘The glazing would light the main stairwell which feeds all rooms and is therefore likely to be lit at ALL times.’
Another raised fears the plans for the excavations, which would delve nearly 5m below the foundation level of the property’s north-west corner, could cause damage to nearby buildings.
A third accused Vieira and his wife of failing to consult with any of the nearby neighbours in what the objection called ‘this very sensitive environmental and conservation area’.
‘This lack of prior neighbour consultation is extremely rare in this Conservation Area,’ the objection said. ‘We can only surmise that the applicant … never intends to live in the new house proposed and so could not care about neighbourhood sentiments.’
+4View gallery
Patrick Vieira and his wife Cheryl: The couple also have a £2.2million home in Alderly Edge, Cheshire
+4View gallery
The house as it currently looks. It dates back to the late-1980s and is being torn down now after Vieira discovered that it was riddled with damp. Neighbours suspect he wants to then sell on the new development
Following months of negotiations, the couple have made concessions, including axing plans for a roof terrace and, according to reports, agreeing to pay £48,000 towards community infrastructure.
The Evening Standard quoted a planning official as saying: ‘The applicant has supplied a satisfactory construction management plan to show that the proposal would not harm the local transport network, and the basement impact has been independently assessed and considered to comply with the relevant policies.’
Vieira, 38, was born in Senegal but moved to France with his family when he was eight. In a glittering football career he won three Premier League titles with Arsenal, and four Serie A titles with Juventus and Internazionale.
He has 107 caps for France, playing in their 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000-winning sides. He finished his career at Manchester City, where he is now manager of the club’s Elite Development Squad.
He also has a £2.2million home in Alderley Edge, Cheshire.