Scheme to contain five blocks up to 23 storeys in height
Allies and Morrison’s plans to replace the National Crime Agency’s former headquarters in Vauxhall with more than 500 homes have been granted planning approval.
Lambeth council’s planning committee voted five in favour and two against a planning officer recommendation to approve the scheme at a meeting yesterday evening.
The existing 20,000sq m campus was built by CLS Holdings in the early 1990s and served as the head office of the National Crime Agency until it moved its base to Stratford earlier this year.
Allies Morrison’s proposals, designed for CLS Holdings and developer London Square, will see the site’s two office buildings demolished and replaced with five new blocks of nine, ten, 13, 17 and 23 storeys, along with a row of mews homes and a small central green space.
The scheme contains a total of 523 homes with 156 of these, a share of 35%, classed as affordable.
Councillors raised concerns in yesterday’s meeting about the impact of the high-rise buildings on daylight for nearby residents and the adjacent Pedlars Park.
The effect is expected to be most severe on the row of luxury high-rise towers to the immediate west of the site on Albert Embankment, bordering the Thames, including Foster + Partners The Corniche, RSHP’s Merano Residences and David Walker Architects’ The Dumont.
However, planning officers considered the light losses were acceptable in the context of the neighbourhood’s high-rise cluster, and outweighed by the scheme’s affordable housing offer.
Councillor David Ford praised the scheme for its contribution to “desperately needed” affordable housing in Lambeth while welcoming the creation of new pedestrian routes through a site which currently operates as a high-security walled compound.
The project team includes AKT II on structures and civils, Boyer on planning, Chapmanbdsp on MEP, TTP on transport, the Townscape Consultancy on heritage and Point2 on daylight.
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