Out-Law News 1 min. read
06 Aug 2014, 2:58 pm
The proposed New Bondway scheme includes the demolition of existing buildings on the 0.29 hectare site to the west of Bondway, and their replacement with two linked buildings of 24 and 50 storeys respectively. The scheme would include a total of 450 homes, 360 of which would be flats for private sale contained in the taller building to the north of the site. The remaining 90 homes would be affordable homes within the smaller building to the south.
The scheme also proposes 5,171 square metres of offices and 728 sq m of ground floor retail space. Basement parking for 109 cars and 579 bicycles is proposed and residents will have use of an indoor swimming pool, a gym and a multipurpose indoor hall.
The site lies within the Vauxhall / Nine Elms / Battersea opportunity area, which was identified in the London Plan as having the potential to accommodate large numbers of new homes and jobs. The proposed tower would form part of a cluster of tall buildings either under construction or with consent in the Vauxhall area, including the 180 m Vauxhall tower, and the 161 m and 200 m Market Towers.
The plans were on the agenda for discussion at a meeting of the Council's planning applications committee on 5 August, having been recommended for approval by a planning officer, subject to the successful completion of a section 106 agreement and directions from the mayor of London and/or the secretary of state for communities and local government.
A previous scheme for a 42-storey tower at the site was dismissed in February 2011 after the secretary of state criticised the lack of planned public spaces proposed and its overbearing visual mass. However, the officer's report for the New Bondway scheme said that "the redevelopment provides public realm that both relieves the massing of the building and also facilitates civic gathering and the envisaged movement patterns within the hierarchy of public spaces expected to come forward as part of the tall buildings cluster".
