Prevarication on 20 Albert Embankment - planning permission extension sought

(Image taken from Lambeth's Planning database)

Following October's attempt to tweak the 20 Albert Embankment planning consent and today's request to extend the time limit on the already-granted planning permission, it doesn't look as though we'll be graced by the presence of three new towers (including another hotel) on the Albert Embankment any time soon.  The current permission is set to expire in March 2011.



20 Albert Embankment - tiny planning permission amendment

A request (10/03287/FUL) for a tiny amendment to the planning permission for 20 Albert Embankment has been submitted to Lambeth Council along the following lines:

"The planning conditions as currently worded require the submission and approval of the relevant details to/by the local planning authority "prior to the commencement of building works". The variations seek to substitute the words "Prior to the commencement of building works" with either the words "Prior to the commencement of the relevant works" or "Prior to the commencement of works above ground" (as appropriate) to allow for a staggered submission of details."

I don't know enough about planning law to know why this type of amendment would be required.  I suppose it all hangs on why the building details can't be submitted prior to works? I'm not sure why details would need submitted in a staggered manner?  Is it a stalling tactic?  Do Newlands Enterprises Ltd wish to hold until the market recovers or do they want to wait to hear from Lambeth about one part of the building before submitting the details for the next?  Questions, questions...

Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) Exhibition - Part 2 of 5 - Lambeth Council

This is Part 2 of a series of posts detailing the photos taken of all display boards at the Vauxhall Nine Elms and Battersea (VNEB) consultation held on 2nd and 3rd October 2010.  This post details the plans displayed by Lambeth Council.  The opportunity area that falls within the geographical region of Lambeth is much smaller than the area that falls within Wandsworth.


You'll see from this map (the purple line indicates the Lambeth/Wandsworth boundary) that all of the developments at Vauxhall fall within Lambeth.  The yellow line indicates the Opportunity Area boundary, so you'll see that the Lambeth VNEB Opportunity area reaches all of the way up to Lambeth Road and includes the entirety of the Albert Embankment.  The Lambeth area also includes the Nine Elms Sainsburys, but does not not include the New Covent Garden flower market:

(Image taken and bodged   from  Streetmap)  

I'm afraid that the following Lambeth Planning images don't include anything that we don't already know about, but they're here for posterity.  I apologise for the slightly odd reflective effect, but somebody from Lambeth is obviously using up the lamination budget:

First up, St George's Tower / Vauxhall Tower.  Vauxhall will be stuck with the ugliest, tallest tower in London at 50 storeys/180 metres (even taller than Strata / The Ladyshave).  Never mind.  As somebody pointed out, the stamp duty paid by residents will fund plenty of Section 106 developments and projects for local people.  The tower represents regeneration, which is generally a good idea in Vauxhall.  Unfortunately, their swimming pool won't be open for public use:

Next up, we have the proposed Vauxhall Island site.  For more on the consultation/plans on that, see over here.  It's 41 storeys/140 metres high, and I can't see these iconic towers being turned down by Lambeth.  I'm not sure when the decision on this is due. The towers have a much more attractive shape than the Vauxhall Tower above and the Vauxhall Island site is just a barren wasteland of advertising hoardings at present.  The exciting thing about the Vauxhall Island site is improvements made to the surrounding area in terms of shops, restaurants and pedestrian access:

Vauxhall Sky Gardens was approved when nobody was looking at the beginning of 2010.  It's only 36 storeys, so I'm sure nobody will notice it:

81 Black Prince Road would fit in quite nicely if it were nearer to the Vauxhall cluster of towers.  It's going to look rather odd rising up to 77 metres (23 storeys) at the end of Black Prince Road, which is mostly low rise housing.  I'm not sure whether I photographed the consultation documents (I've wised up over time), but the view from Kennington Cross is horrific.  I'm not keen on the design at all, but I suppose it's a matter of taste:

Nobody really liked the Bondway Tower, except the Lambeth Council Officers.  Here are some of the reasons why local residents didn't want the Bondway.  Despite the Council's refusal, the developer appealed, and a huge public enquiry was held.  I was going to write a series on the Bondway appeal, but I didn't get any further than a post summarising the opening arguments.  I might continue, if anybody expresses interest, but some of this material is mightily dull to plough through.  We should hear a decision from the Planning Inspectorate by December 2010, or January 2011, and I'm guessing that this one might end up being heard by the Secretary of State:

Here's the one I was missing earlier.   It's 20 Albert Embankment and it already has planning permission. I think it might look rather strange, being so tall, neighbouring the other buildings.   At least part of it will be a hotel.  Another hotel:

I commend the enhanced links between Vauxhall and the river, and improvements to Spring Gardens.  I'm hoping that it will mean the abolition of the gyratory and improved cyclist and pedestrian accessibility.  Here's the overall concept plan:

I am amused that the Development Management Development Plan Document (it can't really be called that!), which will be used to assess planning applications, will emerge in early 2011.  I can't imagine that there will be many planning applications for buildings in the Vauxhall part of VNEB left to submit by that time!  I look forward to the site allocations document that will advise where new schools, mosques and health centres might be placed.  That document will also emerge in early 2011:

Finally, here's a quick overview of the "new heart for Vauxhall" that the Council has planned:

So, what's missing...?  We don't yet know what's planned for the Sainsburys site (you'll have to wait for the disappointing 4th part of the series for that, but there's no significant information in the public domain yet). I'm not sure whether there are towers planned for the Market Gardens residential section (it's technically in Wandsworth), but it looked like it from the 3D model, and those will have some impact on Vauxhall.  I imagine that the Texaco garage plans (38 - 46 Albert Embankment) will rear their head again (more info on the old application here).  We're waiting for revised Fire Station at 8 Albert Embankment to be submitted.  1 - 9 Bondway (the new Travelodge) wasn't on display, but it's either considered too small or too new.  There probably wasn't time to laminate it before the ink had dried!  Also, the "new heart for Vauxhall" board above seems to indicate that development will take place on Vauxhall Walk, and the "South East Regeneration Arc".  I'm not sure we've seen submissions for either of these yet, so I imagine that there must be more developers still to consult in Lambeth.

VNEB exhibition Part 1 of 5 - Ballymore can be found here, if you find planning matters thrilling and exciting :-)

20 Albert Embankment - information on three towers planned for the area

The developers of 20 Albert Embankment (Hampton House) are requesting that Lambeth Council approve certain details of the conditions specified re. developing the new buildings intended for the site.  It seems that permission was already granted by Lambeth Council in 2008 (application 07/04264/FUL) for:

Redevelopment of the site involving the demolition of existing buildings and erection of three buildings of between 13 and 27 storeys to provide a mixed use development comprising ground floor commercial units (flexible Use Class A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, D2), an 167 room apart-hotel, 242 self contained residential units comprising 93 x 1 bed, 77 x 2 bed, 65 x 3 bed and 7 x 4 bed, along with associated parking and landscaping including first floor podium and roof gardens. 

I was completely unaware of this building having been granted permission, but it seems to have have happened some time before I was blogging about the area.  I wonder whether they've had to speed the development along, on the basis that the Vauxhall Island site also contains a proposed hotel.  It seems unlikely, since the Vauxhall Island site hasn't even been submitted for planning yet.  Instead, perhaps it's a sign that large companies are now able to access finance again, after the credit-crunch woes of last year.  Who knows?  Take a look at the pictures on Skyscraper City to see what the 3 towers will look like (not attractive or exciting, if you ask me).


Please note that this is a separate proposal from the 8 Albert Embankment Fire station development (see here for the consultation on that) and here for information on the opposition to 8 Albert Embankment from our local councillors.


I know it's getting difficult to keep up, but these buildings will all affect existing residents in different ways.  This is not strictly an SE11 development, but the Albert Embankment falls within the strange hinterland of SE1 / SE11 and it will affect those who live on the area around the Ethelred Estate.