The surrounding area is characterised by high-rise developments which offer a diverse range of uses, including residential, student, hotel, and community uses. Planning permission was granted on 2nd July 2013 for the redevelopment of the Site for a mixed-use development, from which the construction of the Wendle Court hostel and Urbanest Vauxhall Student Accommodation Building was delivered.
The site is allocated under the Lambeth Local Plan. It is one of the last undeveloped significant plots within the Vauxhall, Nine Elms, and Battersea Opportunity Area (VNEBOA).
Subsequently, Guangzhou R&F Properties bought the site from CLS Holdings in 2017 for approximately £158 million. In April 2022, R&F sold the site to Far East Consortium for about £96 million. R&F exercised an option to repurchase it from Far East Consortium in September 2022 for approximately £107 million. In May 2024, R&F sold the site to Cedarstone Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount. Bmor is acting as the development manager, and Cheyne Capital is providing financing.
The partnership has enlisted architects Pilbrow & Partners to draw up new plans for the 3.8-acre site in the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area.
The planning application is for the removal of all existing buildings and the construction of up to 7 new buildings, ranging in height from 3 to 69 storeys. With three towers standing at over 200 meters, making them, if approved, the pinnacles within the Vauxhall / Nine Elms skyscraper cluster.
The proposed development will comprise 1,097 new residential units, 1,164 co-living units, and 699 Purpose-Built Student Accommodation units, as well as 4,085 m² of office space, a 250-key hotel, retail and cinema space, and 2,497 m² of play space across the Site. There will also be soft and hard landscaping, active frontages, improved pedestrian connections, and community spaces.
In regard to the precise new housing supply, this could deliver over 2,000 housing units in line with the Government’s Housing Delivery Test metric. With 35% affordable homes split across 122 for social rent and 53 at intermediate tenures (either Shared Ownership or London Affordable Rent). This is supplemented by 35% of the build-to-rent flats also being affordable. In total, the affordable homes within the residential component of comprise 35% by habitable room. The tenure split within the affordable homes is 71.5% Social Rent and 28.5% intermediate housing by habitable room, and 69.7% Social Rent and 30.3% intermediate by unit.
Furthermore, 249 of the 649 are classified as affordable by habitable room, and finally, none of the co-living dwellings would be let at less than market rates; however, in accordance with London Plan and Local Plan policies, the co-living component will provide a financial payment in lieu (“PIL”) of on-site affordable homes.
The PIL has been calculated by considering the net value increase in the co-living building when converting a policy-compliant, on-site provision of affordable housing into 100% market housing. A PIL of £55,228,092 A PIL has been agreed with Officers and the Council’s independent consultants, with this money then ringfenced
by the Council to deliver affordable homes across the borough. The intention is that it is directed to Lambeth’s Affordable Homes Programme to an existing project which has planning permission but a funding gap, with this ringfenced in the Section 106 Agreement, with a cascade of projects before going into the Borough-wide fund.
The proposed development is anticipated to be delivered over the course of a continuous construction programme, sequenced to reflect completion and occupation of individual blocks. Although the works proposed on-site have been broken into a sequence of delivery of individual blocks, the indicative construction programme has considered that the majority of works on-site will be undertaken simultaneously, with
Plot 6 is the first Plot to be completed in Q4 2030.
The landscape will provide public, communal, and private amenity space for those living and visiting the Proposed Development, while also benefiting biodiversity through a commitment to achieve 10% Biodiversity Net Gain, in line with relevant legislation. In total, 7,782.5m2 of public realm at the ground floor level is proposed, offering a vibrant and inclusive environment for residents and visitors.
The Proposed Development will provide a total of 2,287 cycle parking spaces across the Site. There will be 2,089 long-stay cycle spaces located in the basement, accessed via a designated lift, and 198 short-stay cycle spaces. This is informed by its proximity to Vauxhall’s transport interchange, to the immediate north of the site, with Nine Elms underground station a 7-minute walk away.
It is allocated under the Lambeth Local Plan (Site 12 Allocation), with the proposed development contributing to the London Borough of Lambeth’s housing targets by providing the equivalent of 2,024 housing units (of which 1,097 are traditional residential units).
Proposals for public realm improvements, as pictured below, represent an improvement compared to the previous now-expired consent from the 2010s; however, these proposals would form part of the Nine Elms Linear Park, which totals 14 acres and runs from Vauxhall through Nine Elms to Battersea Power Station.
The application is now under consideration by Lambeth Council and will be determined by its planning committee at some point in 2026 or 2027.
