New owners of long-delayed Vauxhall Square development planning 20-storey height increase
The new owners of the stalled Vauxhall Square site in south London have replaced lead architect Allies & Morrison with Pilbrow & Partners and revealed plans to boost the scheme’s towers to 70 storeys.
Development partners Bmor and Cedarstone Capital are working up a fresh planning application for the long-vacant site in Nine Elms which would make the scheme’s towers 20 storeys taller than the existing consent.
The new scheme, which will be submitted to Lambeth council this summer, would consist of four towers of 16, 19, 41 and 70 storeys containing 1,200 homes, 600 student beds and 1,250 co-living units.
It would also contain a 240-room hotel, 2,700 sq m of office space and 5,000 sq m of retail and leisure space with its buildings centred around a new 4,200 sq m landscaped park which is being billed as the “heart of a new centre for Vauxhall”.
The development team and its backers Cheyne Capital Management and GFH Partners have already carried out two rounds of consultation with local residents and are preparing to reveal more detailed designs in the coming weeks. A full planning application will be submitted this summer.
Under early plans shared with Lambeth council this month, the scheme’s largest building would be by far the tallest in the Nine Elms tower cluster and one of the tallest residential buildings in the country.
A spokesperson for Vauxhall Square said: ”This is a significant opportunity to bring investment and new life to a long-vacant site in the heart of London, creating much-needed homes, including affordable housing, improved public green spaces, and a range of amenities for both local people and visitors.”
The 1.46ha site, bounded by Parry Street to the north, Wandsworth Road to the west, Bondway to the east and the railway line to the east and south, has been inactive and hoarded for several years after passing through a succession of owners.
The scheme’s redesign comes 12 years after Lambeth council approved Allies & Morrison’s original proposals, designed for property developer CLS Holdings, which consisted of a total of nine buildings including two 50-storey towers.
A portion of this site was later sold to student accommodation developer Urbanest, which appointed Glenn Howells Architects, now known as Howells, in 2014 to design a 32-storey tower containing 454 student beds which was completed in 2018.
The rest of the site, one of the largest vacant sites in central South London, remained undeveloped with CLS carrying out minor works on the site in order to lawfully maintain its planning consent.
The site was later bought by Chinese developer R&F, which sold it to Hong Kong rival Far East Consotrium for £95.7m in 2022. Cedarstone Capital Partners and Bmor purchased the site with financing from Cheyne Capital last year.
The project team for the new scheme includes planning consultant DP9, project manager Trigon and transport consultant Velocity.
Allies & Morrison has been contacted for comment.
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