Councillors have approved plans to build a 153-flat development on St James’s Road, off Old Kent Road.
The development includes three blocks of seven, eight and nineteen storeys, and 1,900sqm of floorspace for commercial and light industrial uses.
35 per cent of the homes will be affordable, with 25 per cent social rent and the other 10 per cent ‘intermediate’ – meaning let at 80 per cent of market rate.
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Most of the flats will likely be marketed at couples, given that 110 homes are three-bedroom or less.
Families will however benefit from the fact that over a third (43) of social rent homes are three-bedroom or more.
The site is currently home to a parking area, as well as a storage building and a three-storey building owned by a fire safety company. Both will be demolished.
The Roca building, which houses artist studios, a live-work space and a workshop space, is being retained and refurbished.
Some local residents objected to the scheme, arguing that the nineteen-storey building is too high and will block out sunlight.
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At Archers Lodge, a residential building opposite the development, sixteen windows will experience light loss exceeding the recommended guidelines.
One objector wrote: “Proposed buildings are too high. Will block out sunlight. Not in-keeping with local area. Will put a strain on local services such as schools and GPs.
“Will increase traffic and pollution, both of which are already big issues. Privacy issue with being overlooked. Completely against this proposal.”
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But a council officer at the planning meeting on December 19 said: “While there are some impacts… they’re not considered to be that significant.
“In the majority of cases the windows affected passed guidelines and those that do fail don’t fail by a huge margin.”
The nineteen-storey building does exceed Old Kent Road Area Action Plan’s guidelines but a council officer’s report argued that buildings even higher than this had already been approved and are under construction.
The development falls within the Old Kent Road Opportunity Area, which will see 20,000 new homes and 10,000 new jobs in the coming years, according to Southwark Council.
At the planning meeting, councillors unanimously decided to approve the development.
