More student accommodation could soon be coming to the Old Kent Road, after a developer applied for permission to redevelop a car wash into over 200 student flats.
Developer Student Urban Living Ilderton has applied to Southwark Council for permission to build a 19-storey tower containing 241 student flats on Ilderton Road at the junction with Hornshay Street.
The developer previously obtained permission in Febuary last year for a 15-storey tower with 168 student flats on the same site, 301–303 Ilderton Road, which is currently a car wash.
However they said they had been forced to re-submit proposals for a larger scheme because the former development was “no longer considered viable in its approved form.”
The majority of the student flats – 183 – will be studios, while 29 will be two-bed.
The student flats will be spread between the second and seventeenth floors. On the ground floor there will be a flexible working space and a cafe open to the public.
None of the flats will be affordable, with the developer to provide ‘payments in lieu’ to the council to build affordable homes elsewhere in Southwark.
The scheme also includes more than 3,500 sq ft of internal student amenity space, including a lounge, games room, study room and gym and a roof terrace which to developer said would ‘foster a sense of community and enhance the student living experience’.
The location of this new development is not clear. is it next to the famous Thomas à Becket Pub? In which case it should be immediately rejected as that is an important heritage site and nothing should exceed the height of the existing pub,. Also I am very suspicious of this trend of ” student accommodation!”. call me cynical but student accommodation does not need to apply the Parker Morris size regulations per person- so they can be rabbit hutches- then in a few yrs the developers will request ‘change of use’ to move to the private sector or the like, for one fake reason or another and then inadequate housing will be on the market – when they are not suitable for that use. It seems a loop hole that is catching on with developers that should seriously be properly investigated.