HARINGEY Council’s old factory—an inside video tour

'Shaftesbury House' – 22 April 2026 photo credit: Martin Ball

• In 2020, Haringey Council bought a disused factory in Enfield Borough
• Our council sold it last year at a capital loss of £1,900,000
• The running costs over 4.5 years were c. £500,000
• The new owner is trying to demolish it

Haringey Council bought Shaftesbury House against the advice of the supposed users, the Peacock light industrial estate.

The purchase was one of nine irregular council deals considered by the external investigator Chris Buss in a report commissioned by the council itself.

The tired old building was once described as a sh*thole, but the council's regeneration team considered it was good enough in which to decant a number of Tottenham businesses.

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The council's rolling regeneration fiasco has many features

1. By working together with their then former HDV partner (Lendlease) Haringey Council's intention was—by Compulsory Purchase—to force the thriving businesses out of our Borough and then to demolish their premises of the Peacock Estate
2. It is an irony that the new owners want to demolish the council's old factory. Our council was likely to have overpaid by about a fifth for the building, which was always worth little more than the value of the land alone
3. It is a further irony the current demolition itself is also running into problems (photos below)
4. This is an example of how Haringey Council can and does burn taxpayer cash
5. The cumulative losses on the Shaftesbury deal are around £2,500,000, which is a small fraction of the total losses that the Council made on at least nine property deals transacted in the 36 months between May 2018 and May 2021
6. The mention in the linked video of the council leader and the council member for regeneration, refers to the Admin. prior to the current Administration, although of course, the same Majority Group Party remains in charge
7. The misguided and mishandled decision to buy factory was made in late 2019 and the losses on this deal began to accrue from the date of purchase on 2 July 2020
8. That huge losses on council property wheeling & dealing began to be generated in a 36 month period several years ago, makes the council's financial position today much worse. Especially considered inflation and the loss of interest
9. We may never know the total extent of the money losses caused and the real benefit lost to Haringey residents (in economics, the Opportunity Cost)  
10. Today, Haringey Council has millions of pounds of public money less for public benefit, than it otherwise would have

A tour ~ Haringey Council's factory

Muti makes a pitch for using the building as a community arts centre "Studio 101".

Was this a missed opportunity by London's Borough of Culture 2027 ?

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Enfield Council's enforcement letters (below) are dated 17 March and are posted on the front. There seem to be some compliance issues relating to The Building Act 1984  (Sections 81– 83):

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