Plans to develop a life sciences hub with a GDV of £1.4bn near Waterloo station, SE1, will go ahead after being approved by Lambeth Council.
The scheme, known as Royal Street, is a key part of the emerging SC1 innovation district. It is being brought forward by Stanhope and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation and will see the transformation of five existing blocks into 1.7m sq ft of lab-enabled offices, 133 homes and 52,000 sq ft of retail and leisure facilities.
The consent comes after the council’s initial positive decision made at the end of 2022 was halted by the government. In July last year, secretary of state Michael Gove issued an article 31 direction, requiring special authorisation for the scheme to proceed.
The decision followed concerns raised by Historic England and a petition signed by nearly 45,000 local people against the scheme citing overdevelopment of the site and its proximity to the Westminster Unesco World Heritage Site.
The scheme, spanning 5.5 acres, also failed to comply with Lambeth’s local development plan.
However, the government decided late in 2023 to withdraw the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities’ letter and not call in the application for the scheme, noting that it is “committed to giving more power to councils and communities to make their own decisions on planning issues”.
Just before Christmas, the planning officer decided that planning permission should nonetheless be granted as the public benefits expected to be generated by the scheme would outweigh the non-compliance with the Lambeth local development plan. These include an affordable workspace package equivalent in value to £25m, 68 affordable homes, more than 1,000 new jobs, a contribution of almost £5m to improving local public transport and the creation of new public realm.
Stanhope has confirmed that the section 106 agreement has been finalised and permission granted, but declined to comment further at this stage.
Gerald Eve advised on planning.
To send feedback, e-mail evelina.grecenko@eg.co.uk or tweet @Gre_Eve or @EGPropertyNews
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