Government granted grade II-listed status to MacCormac Jamieson Prichard-designed station last week
Transport for London has said its design for a 15-storey student accommodation building above Southwark tube station will not change following the government’s decision to list the site.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced last week it was granting the MacCormac Jamieson Prichard-designed Jubilee Line extension station grade II-listed status following advice from Historic England.
The move came eight months after Southwark council approved plans by AHMM for a 429-bed student tower on the station’s roof and an adjacent 14-storey council housing block.
The scheme’s developer, Platinum Portfolio, a joint venture between Transport for London’s development arm Places for London and developer Helical, said at the time that planned alterations to the existing station building would be subject to a listed building application if the site was listed prior to the start of construction.
Interventions which form part of the scheme’s main application include the removal of some internal fabric, including a prominent column in the station’s ticket hall, which would be replaced with a stronger column to support the overstation development.
Southwark council’s planning officers have said the replacement column would be kept “as slim as possible” with other interventions on the site to be carried out “as sensitively as possible”.
Platinum Portfolio has said it will now proceed with the submission of a listed building application with construction of the scheme set to start next year and complete in 2029.
The developers said they had consulted with Historic England and heritage and design officers at both TfL and Southwark council during design development and the listed building application will be “consistent with the design of the consented scheme”.
Opened in 1999, Southwark station was always intended to have an overstation development on its roof. AHMM’s latest plans for the site replace proposals for a 17-storey office tower for TfL, approved in 2021, which was scrapped after the transport operator said the scheme was surplus to its requirements due to post-covid working changes.
The JV said: “The original design intent had always included the provision for a development to be constructed over the station. As such Helical and Places for London sought to ensure that their AHMM designed scheme, which received planning consent in March 2025, sensitively responded to the architectural features of the station.
The developers added that the decision to grant listed status “recognises Southwark station’s innovative design and wonderful features and the JV is excited to be progressing the delivery of 429 purpose built student accommodation studios and 44 affordable homes above and adjacent to such special station architecture.”
Historic England praised the site for its “consistently high quality” of design, material finish and detailing, including its famous circular ticket hall, its sweeping blue glass screen by artist Alexander Beleschenko and “bold” steel-panelled tunnel of the lower course.
In its listing entry, it described the station as a ”product of a close collaboration between architect, artist and engineer to deliver one of the most memorable and theatrical spaces on the London Underground network”.
The body’s co-chief executives Claudia Kenyatta and Emma Squire added: “It represents a high point in a long tradition of excellent design and engineering throughout the Underground network, making memorable experiences for Londoners and visitors alike.”
Heritage minister Fiona Twycross said the station is a “stunning example of late 20th-century architecture”.
She added: “I’m thrilled to celebrate and help protect this bold design, with its striking play on natural and artificial light. Used by thousands every day, this station is a great reminder of the extraordinary breadth of our country’s architectural heritage.”
Heritage groups Save Britain’s Heritage and the Twentieth Century Society, which have long campaigned for the site to be given protected status, have also welcomed the government’s decision to list the site after a previous listing bid in 2017 was refused.
Twentieth Century Society director Catherine Croft said: ”We’re absolutely thrilled with the news that Southwark Underground Station has been listed, just a quarter of a century after it first opened to the public. The Jubilee Line Extension is one of the finest British architectural and engineering achievements of the past century, with Southwark Station one of the jewels in the crown.
“The joyful experience of travelling from street to platform is a carefully choreographed delight. From the drum shaped entrance that recalls Charles Holden’s classic 1930s Arnos Grove tube station, to the subterranean skylit hall with artist Alexander Beleschenko’s dramatic geometric blue glass wall, this is transport infrastructure elevated to the sublime.”
Save Britain’s Heritage director Henrietta Billings added: ”Southwark station is award-winning public architecture at its best. SAVE is delighted that this fantastic building has been officially recognised and celebrated with national listing.
“To catch the tube at Southwark is to enter a world of high drama – a sequence of theatrical spaces that descend to platform level, crowned with the curved, deep blue glass screen by artist Alexander Beleschenko.”
The project team for AHMM’s overstation development includes project manager Gardiner & Theobald, facade engineer Aecom and landscape architect Studio GB. Mace, Heyne Tillett Steel and Curtins are also on the scheme.
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