South London regeneration area architects brought together

Architects working on skyscrapers in south London’s Vauxhall, Nine Elms and Battersea opportunity area have been brought together by Design Council Cabe to work on a coherent tall-buildings strategy.

Firms bidding to build towers in the area – including Foster’s, KPF, Allies & Morrison, Squire & Partners, Rolfe Judd and Farrells – took part in the meeting held at Coin Street, together with representatives from Design Council Cabe, the Greater London Authority and planners from Wandsworth and Lambeth councils.

A section of the area at Vauxhall has been earmarked for a cluster of towers, with Broadway Malyan’s 180m tower for Berkeley Homes, which is on site, identified by the masterplan as the highest building of the set. Plans have also been approved for Carey Jones’ 36-storey Sky Gardens tower.

Design Council Cabe chairman Paul Finch said the aim of the organisation’s involvement was to improve communication and co-ordination.

“We started to see individual proposals coming through, and clearly there was a need to get everyone talking,” he said. “It can be helpful to have a third party with no axe to grind to facilitate a conversation.”

The cluster’s form is set to be defined by protected views from Parliament Square to Vauxhall Gardens. Wandsworth Council has expressed its concerns over the view of the towers from the Thames bridges, where it wants to avoid a “wall” effect.
Design Council Cabe design review chairman Piers Gough added: “Everyone wants to build high and everyone wants to build two towers, producing a surreal doppelganger zone.”

The latest scheme to be submitted for planning is Rolfe Judd’s proposal for Sainsbury’s, where eight new buildings – including an outline proposal for a new underground station – will mark the edge of the tower cluster.

Rolfe Judd director Charles Graham said: “The initial masterplan has evolved and we’re trying to react to each others’ ideas. We’re on the periphery of the cluster, our largest building is about 120m.”

Allies & Morrison has also submitted plans for a 6ha residential-led scheme on the site of Royal Mail’s south London mail centre.