Plans for a new sixteen-storey block at Elephant have been submitted to Southwark Council.
The 233-room student accommodation will be located on Avonmouth Street, just off Newington Causeway at Elephant and Castle.
It will replace the existing Avonmouth House Conference Centre, which is behind the London Bridge Job Centre and neighbours Newington Gardens.
Developer Tribe have said the block will include 233 rooms for students, alongside offices and a new healthcare hub.
“I strongly object to this proposal,” said one online commentator on the planning application. “Those of us living on the Western side of the Rockingham Estate are now being surrounded by high-rise buildings. The Travelodge Hotel allowed here is a complete eyesore.
“Natural light has already been greatly reduced over the past few years,” they added.
In the planning application, consultants HGH, speaking on behalf of Tribe, claim the tower is needed as there is “a substantial deficit in the supply of student housing relative to the number of students living and studying in Southwark.”
Both London South Bank University and the London College of Communication are a short walk from the proposed site. They wrote a letter in support of the development, which was attached to last week’s application.
Avonmouth House operator etc.venues said the existing conference centre is “surplus to requirements.” They added that businesses and staff at the centre will be relocated to nearby Prospero House in Borough High Street.
“The proposed development, designed by Stitch Architects, is of the highest quality and would deliver an exemplary design solution for this site,” said HGH in the planning document. “The architecture is expressed as a group of elements of differing heights which relate to different orientations.”
They continued: “It will form part of the emerging cluster at Elephant & Castle and will represent an appropriate transition between the tallest elements located on Newington Causeway including Two Fifty One, 89 and 87 Newington Causeway, and the lower scale further north on Newington Causeway and to the south and east of the site.
“Its height will contribute to this emerging cluster that defines the gateway into the central area of Elephant & Castle.”
HGH has worked on a number of major developments in Southwark, including the Leathams Building and Nyes Wharf.
Founded in 2020 by a team of veteran developers in the private housing sector, Tribe says it aims to ease the shortage of good quality affordable accommodation for London’s students. The company is currently progressing with five sites including this scheme.
In March, Tribe was provided with a £35 million loan to build a 250-unit student accommodation development in South Bermondsey.
For more information on the plans at Elephant and Castle see 21/AP/4297 on the Southwark planning register.
- Got something to share? Email josha@southwarknews.co.uk or call 020 7232 1639