Proposals for a 34-floor tower containing 143 homes for rent in Battersea have been submitted to the London Borough of Wandsworth seeking full detailed planning permission.
The application has been submitted on behalf of developer Heliport London Ltd which is a subsidiary of Canada Israel more commonly abbreviated as the CI Group, which also is implementing consent on a large residential scheme in Brent.
The application to support its planning application about the proposed redevelopment of Heliport House, 1 Lombard Road. The applicant has appointed architects Concrete and HTA Design to produce design, access, and landscape proposals for the site.
The site currently contains a five-story building for office and live/work use, and two small industrial sheds. Planning permission for a 15-storey building above the existing office and live/work building (effectively creating a 20-storey building) was granted in 2014, designed by the late architect Will Alsop (image and plans of plans below). The permission was varied slightly in 2017, and a certificate of lawfulness confirmed that the permission was saved in 2019.
The site to which these permissions relate did not include the adjacent industrial sheds, which form part of the current application site. The site was also subject to a request for prior approval to change the use from office to residential.
Within the immediate vicinity of the site, to the north, the site is bounded by Lookers Land Rover, a car dealership. To the west is the London Heliport, which is separated from the site by Bridges Court Road. To the east and south is the Heliport Industrial Estate, which comprises two rows of low-rise industrial buildings, of which the site’s industrial garages form a part.
To the west of the site is London Heliport, which, along with Skyport’s London Heliport on the Isle of Dogs – serves as the hub for helicopter travel into and out of London. Beyond this are at least four towers of over 15 floors for mostly residential uses.
The site is 950 meters from Clapham Junction Station, one of London’s major public transport interchanges, offering National Rail services to inter alia Waterloo and London Bridge. Clapham Junction also provides London Overground services such as Stratford and Dalston Junction.
The site is also 300 meters from bus stops on Lombard Road, which offers a direct connection to Victoria. These connections contribute to the site’s PTAL rating of 6b – the highest possible level.
The site’s surroundings have increasingly been identified as an area that can accommodate tall buildings, with high-quality and iconic design. To the north of the site is Lombard Wharf – a 28-storey tower, with a unique asymmetric design constructed in 2017, following the grant of planning permission in 2015.
To the southeast of Heliport House is the Winstanley and York Road Estate, which was granted permission for a comprehensive regeneration itself a joint venture between Wandsworth Council and volume housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, before withdrawing from the venture earlier this year, which includes the construction of a 31-story tower in 2021. Further north, a 20-storey tower at 80-100 Gwynne Road was consented to in March 2025.
The planning history of Heliport House’s surroundings indicates that it is a focal point for the development of tall buildings, consistent with its identification as a Tall Building Zone.
Given the changing character, the location provides an excellent opportunity to develop a unique landmark building that positively contributes to the emerging tall building cluster. This is something to consider when differentiating this proposal from the refusal of a similarly tall tower near Battersea Bridge.
LB Wandsworth has a population of 327,506, with 14,183 residing in St Mary’s Ward per the 2021 Census. It is anticipated that the proposed development would house 308 residents per the GLA’s population yield calculator, some of whom would already be living in Wandsworth, with an additional 12,612 homes that would be built in Wandsworth expected to deliver from 2024 to 2029.
51 of the homes would be affordable, of which 12 (23.5%) would be family-sized, which adheres to LB Wandsworth’s unit mix targets are set by Local Plan Policy LP24 and would make a positive contribution to
affordable housing stock in the area.
The acoustic constraints on the site mean that windows cannot be assumed to be open for overheating testing (though the windows are designed to be openable), but this risk is mitigated through the provision of a highly efficient reversible heat pump system that would allow residents to mechanically cool their homes where necessary, on the very hottest summer day.
The proposal has two staircases, an evacuation lift, and a fire-fighting lift, to ensure that future residents would be able to evacuate safely and with dignity in the unlikely event of a fire. The proposed building is suitably compartmentalised to mitigate the risk of a fire spreading.
Overall the consent but not was not implemented from a decade ago when considered alongside the established nature of tall buildings in this part of Battersea.
Within Wandsworth’s recently adopted local plan, the locale of the proposed tower is situated within an tall buildings designated area, this thusly makes an decision on whether or not it will achieve planning consent potentially less locally deviseive than the infamous and resounding rejection of the scheme immediately adjacent to Battersea bridge a few weeks ago.
