Flats plan for Commonwealth Institute set to be approved

A major scheme to revamp the former Commonwealth Institute in Holland Park is set to be given the go-ahead tonight.

Kensington and Chelsea council will decide whether to approve plans, which include 62 flats that developers hope to sell for £2 million-£3million each.

The original plans were scaled back after criticism from the council and English Heritage. But the proposals are now recommended for approval - subject to a tight legal agreement.

Qatari-owned developer Chelsfield Partners employed Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas to design three blocks of flats meant to pay for the refurbishment of the listed Institute building, which has been earmarked as the future home of the Design Museum.

The new plans would preserve the Sixties Grade-II* listed building, which was last used in 2001. A planning report accepts that the flats would impact on the building but says bringing it back into use is a greater benefit.

The main building, renamed the Parabola, triggered a row three years ago when it emerged that then culture secretary Tessa Jowell and then foreign secretary Margaret Beckett had tried to de-list it so it could be demolished.

Kensington and Chelsea deputy leader Daniel Moylan said he supported the plan to give "an iconic if controversial building a new life".