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Without wishing to start an argument, what’s ‘disastrous’ about it? Is it one of those things that sounds good in principle (ie repurpose over-shopped areas creating needed housing) but falls down at a micro level?
NickCJ-
It's not necessarily the worst thing for Central London, where more residential and less commercial wouldn't actually be a bad thing, but overwhelmingly it'll create slums, e.g. where former commercial buildings in far-from-anywhere industrial estates are converted into shoebox-size 'flats'. In general, in an already far too developer-friendly planning system, which, as hoefla says, is in terrible disarray, removing even more safeguards against bad development is something only total idiots want.
Oliver Schick
This is down to the Government's disastrous policy of permitting change of use from commercial to residential. It's not specific to the property in question. See here:
https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/9/change_of_use/2
How likely it is to happen depends entirely on whether the owners of the property want to make this conversion, and on whether they can afford it. You should get in touch with them (if you know/know how to find out who they are) and ask them.