Another big one – our 130,000 sqft, mixed-use repurposing of a redundant office building in Elephant & Castle has received unanimous consent from LB Southwark – maintaining our 100% planning track record.

Our 283-bed Purpose-Built Student Accommodation-led (PBSA) scheme, designed with Howells, unlocks a site on the Walworth Road, that has lain derelict and largely empty for far too long, bringing forward a rich mix of uses that puts the area’s diverse communities at its heart.

Demonstrating that student accommodation can meaningfully address and respond to the needs of local people. While also supporting students and other new residents to become active and productive community members.

Our dramatic remodelling of the building will transform an unloved eyesore into a positive landmark on the high street – centred on community, food and nature.

The ground plain will be given over to community – pretty much in it is entirety:

🌳 A new community courtyard garden at the heart of the site provides green respite from the busy high street

🚶🏽‍♀️‍➡️ A new pedestrian route transforms its permeability, signposted with welcoming entrances lined in tactile glazed brick

🏬 New high street shops will drive footfall

👩🏽‍🍳 A new Community Kitchen, with local charity Pembroke House, will use the power of food to bridge the area’s existing communities and new residents, tackle social isolation, connect young and old, improve access to healthy, fairly-priced food, and support emerging local food businesses.

🏡 And critically, we’re delivering 35% affordable housing on site – 23 new homes for Walworth, all of which will be for social-rent.

Our plans prioritise the natural environment too – the all-electric scheme reuses the entire structure of the main Walworth Road building, air-source heat pumps and extensive rooftop PVs will significantly reduce energy demand.

And nature is being reintroduced on a significant scale – 22 new trees and enough green and blue roofs to cover an Olympic swimming pool.

We’ve got to this point through extensive input from the local community. What they’ve told us and the relationships we’ve built, have fed directly into our plans and the scheme is all the better for it.

Huge thanks to them all. And of course our incredible project team too.