The Anonymous Widower

What Housing Is Being Built At Cockfosters Station?

I was looking for something to watch on the television and noticed that Cockfosters FC were in the FA Vase final today at Wembley against AFC Stonham.

For the first sixteen years or so of my life, I lived in Cockfosters, and until now, I never knew they had a football team, which is actually based just around the corner from the church, where I got married to C on September 7th 1968.

This Google Map shows the area.

Note.

1. The red arrow at the top of the map indicates Cockfosters F.C.
2. Christ Church, Cockfosters is to the South of the football club.
3. Cockfosters Road runs slightly diagonally down the map.
4. Cockfosters station on the Piccadilly Line is indicated by the London Transport roundel.
5. Cockfosters station has extensive car parking to the North-East of the station
6. Cockfosters Depot is to the South-East of the station.

Our house was just off the Southern edge of the map, by Southgate School.

A 3D Image Of  Cockfosters Station

This Google Map shows a 3D image of Cockfosters station and the buildings around it.

Note.

1. Cockfosters station is indicated by the roundel.
2. The station is a Grade II Listed building.
3. The station has an elevation of 97 metres.
4. Half of the station car park is going to be turned into housing.
5. Trent Park lies to the North of the station.
6. The road in front of the station is Cockfosters Road, which to the North joins the M25 at Junction 24.
7. The building between Cockfosters Road and the railway used to be offices, but it is now being converted into starter housing.

In Starter Homes At Cockfosters, I write about starter homes being developed on the South side of the station.

Artificial Intelligence On The Housing In The Car Park

I asked Google AI the question in the title of this post and received this answer.

Places for London (Transport for London’s property arm) and Barratt London are building 373 residential apartments across four tower blocks on the former Cockfosters Station car park site. The largely car-free, mixed-use scheme includes 40% affordable housing, new public open spaces, and revamped TfL staff facilities.

Key Project Details

Total Homes: 373 apartments (a mix of 1, 2, and 3-bedroom properties).

Housing Tenure: All flats will be built for rent, with 40% of them allocated as “affordable” (including social rent and intermediate housing).

Building Heights: Four tower blocks ranging between 5 and 15 storeys tall.

Station Parking: The development is largely car-free.

Around 68 parking spaces will be retained at the station, including 12 dedicated Blue Badge spaces.

Public Amenities: The scheme introduces about 4,500 square meters of publicly accessible open space, children’s play areas, cycle storage, and minor commercial floor space.

Development Background

While planning permission for housing on the site was originally granted by Enfield Council in 2022, the project faced years of delays.

In late 2025 and early 2026, revised plans were submitted to add an extra storey to each building to accommodate updated fire safety legislation—adding 22 more homes to the initial 351 proposal.

You can track local planning updates and track progress via the Enfield Council Planning Portal.

I have some thoughts about this development.

Was There Any Opposition To Building Flats On Cockfosters Station Car Park?

From when I lived in the area, I remember that Cockfosters car park was well used in the 1960s and that trains on the Piccadilly Line were exceedingly busy, as I sometimes used to get them to travel to school.

I asked Google AI the question in the title of this section and received this answer.

Yes, there was intense opposition to the proposal to build flats on the Cockfosters Station car park.

The plans to build over 350 homes across blocks reaching up to 14 storeys faced major pushback from local residents, commuters, and Conservative MPs.

The primary points of contention included:

Loss of Parking: Opponents were concerned that wiping out hundreds of park-and-ride parking spaces would reduce the station’s accessibility.

It sparked fears that it would increase traffic on local roads and make journeys impossible for many, particularly blue-badge holders.

Over-development: The proposed height and density were heavily criticized for being out of character for the surrounding outer-suburb.

Heritage and Green Belt Impact: Residents argued that the massive tower blocks would negatively impact the neighboring Trent Park Conservation Area and the Charles Holden-designed Grade 2-listed station building.

Despite the controversy—which generated nearly 3,000 objections and was temporarily halted by the government in 2022—the project was officially given the green light to proceed. You can find full details on the planning outcomes via the Enfield Council Planning Portal or by reviewing the BBC News coverage of the development’s approval.

Do Any Train Depots Have Housing On Top?

I feel that we should maximise housing and in estates like the Barbican, there is extensive housing on top of car parking and even some active railways.

So why not on top of train depots like Cockfosters?

I asked Google AI the question in the title of this section and received this answer.

Yes, train depots and railyards increasingly feature housing built directly on top of them. Because large, open plots are scarce in dense cities, decking over active railway infrastructure has become an innovative engineering solution to generate new residential spaces.

Prominent examples of housing built over railway land include:

Royal Mint Gardens (London, UK):  luxury residential and mixed-use development built directly above active train tracks on the approach to London Fenchurch Street.

Hudson Yards (New York, USA): The largest private real estate development in the U.S. features numerous residential skyscrapers built on a massive elevated platform constructed directly over the active John D. Carolan West Side Yard.

North Manhattan Rail Yards (New York, USA): Several multi-family residential projects, such as the Triangle Equities development over the MTA’s East 180th Street depot, utilize air rights to stack housing above active transit operations.

Hong Kong (Global Pioneer): Many of the city’s MTR depots (such as the Tseung Kwan O or Siu Ho Wan depots) and their surrounding stations have extensive private residential estates (known as Rail + Property Developments) built directly onto elevated decks atop the facility.

How is it done?

Building over a depot or railway requires constructing a heavy-duty “crash deck” or podium over the tracks. To prevent the noise, vibrations, and emissions of the trains from disturbing residents, developers use advanced building vibration isolation techniques. The residential buildings are structurally separated from the rail lines using specialized acoustic bearings and shock-absorbing foundations.

As we haven’t got the land in our big cities we should go for it.

Is The New London Museum Built Over Train Tracks?

This link shows all my posts on the new London Museum, as it will be called.

But what does Google AI say in answer to my question?

Yes, the new London Museum at Smithfield Market is built directly over and intertwined with active railway infrastructure.

The multi-billion-pound cultural project is located over or alongside a number of key transport elements:

Thameslink Tunnels: The subterranean galleries and historic brick vaults of the museum sit adjacent to active Thameslink railway lines that pass through a combined basement complex.

Historical Goods Depot: The museum’s underground level occupies what was originally the Great Northern Railway’s Farringdon goods depot.

Train Viewing Area: The museum features a specialized window where visitors can watch passing trains rumble by.

London Museum

To explore the building’s design, you can read more about it on the London Museum Buildings Guide.

May 17, 2026 Posted by AnonW | Artificial Intelligence, Transport/Travel | Barbican, Cockfosters, Cockfosters F.C., Cockfosters Station, Cockfosters Train Depot, Enfield Council, Google AI, Hong Kong, Housing, Museum Of London, New York, Piccadilly Line | 1 Comment