Plans in support of an application seeking full detailed planning permission for the redevelopment of 49 Brixton Station Road and 6 Canterbury Crescent, which sits in the London Borough of Lambeth, will be determining stage 1 consent for the application.
Whilst the sites are owned by the determining local authority, the applicant behind the proposals, London Square Developments Limited, has appointed architects Pollard Edward Thomas design and access proposals for the site.
Proposals would entail the retention of 6 Canterbury Crescent and extending it by two storeys, and 49 Brixton Road would be redeveloped to provide three buildings of between six and 20 storeys.
In total, 288 new homes for Lambeth would be provided, of which 40% are affordable, based on habitable rooms. Alternatively, this correlates to 190 and 98 for private sale and social rent, respectively, on a new self-contained dwellings basis.
Approximately 5,600 sqm of non-residential floorspace is proposed to provide purpose-built, flexible commercial floorspace, workspace, affordable workspace, market trader infrastructure, and an enterprise and community hub for Brixton.
6 Canterbury Crescent (6CC) comprises the existing International House, a red brick office building built in the 1980s as part of the Brixton Recreation Centre. It comprises 11 office floors with an additional roof level plant, taking it to 12 storeys. It was previously used as Council offices and is currently subject to a temporary lease to 3Space, an affordable workspace provider.
The building is presently operating as a temporary, meanwhile project, incorporating workspace and
affordable workspace. There is a temporary restaurant and sauna in use taking place on the roof.
The second plot is 49 Brixton Station Road (49 BSR), a former multi-storey car park that was demolished over a decade ago and is now also being used for temporary, meanwhile uses. This includes ‘Pop Brixton’, a local enterprise which is utilising repurposed shipping containers to provide a mix of food and drink, retail, and workspace uses on a temporary planning permission that is due to expire in 2029. 49 BSR also includes temporary car park and waste facilities that support Brixton’s street markets, together with a Council-owned ‘Pay and Display’ car park.
The Site benefits from a Public Transport Accessibility Level (PTAL) of 6a for 6 CC and 6b for 49 BSR, indicating a very high level of public transport accessibility. Several bus services operate in the vicinity, and Brixton Rail Station, Brixton Underground Station, and Loughborough Junction Rail Station are all within close walking distance.
The development will be car-free, except for 9 designated Blue Badge parking bays, 4 located off-street on Canterbury Crescent and 5 provided on-street along Pope’s Road. In addition, ten dedicated spaces for market trader parking will be provided, with a priority for deliveries, drop-off, and transfer of stock, reflecting operational needs and supported by new on-site storage facilities.
Long-stay and short-stay cycle parking will be provided in accordance with London Plan standards, comprising a total of 603 long-stay spaces (544 residential, 59 commercial) and 29 short-stay spaces (8 residential, 21 commercial). All cycle parking will be fully compliant with the London Cycle Design Standards (LCDS).
Elsewhere within Brixton, in summer 2023, plans for a 20-storey office block between the railway lines were withdrawn a day before the public hearing to determine the scheme was due to be considered at City Hall.
Lambeth Council approved the plans in December 2020 – despite nearly 8,000 people signing a petition against it. If it had gone ahead, the developers said the 20-storey office block, situated in Pope’s Road, would have included 12.5% affordable workspace and created up to 1,600 new jobs.
However, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan put the proposals under review over concerns the building was too big, would harm the character of the area and cause harm to views of listed buildings and nearby parks.
More recently, the same determining authority granted planning approval for a proposal seeking to amend an existing consent for proposals on nearby Somerleyton Road, principally but not exclusively increasing the heights of four masterplan plots and increasing the number of new homes from 304 to 378.
