Plans to redevelop a strategic site in front of London Bridge Station moved a step nearer when the London Borough of Southwark Planning Committee resolved to grant planning consent for the stunning Renzo Piano designed scheme.
Known as New London Bridge House, the scheme represents the latest phase in the redevelopment of the London Bridge Quarter. It will involve the demolition of an existing 1960’s office tower and replacing it with a spectacular 600,000 sq ft (55,740 sq m) office and retail building.
New London Bridge House is owned by the same consortium as The Shard at London Bridge and comprises Sellar Property Group, CLS Holdings plc and the Halabi Family Trust, represented by Buckingham Securities. Sellar Property Group is leading the consortium for the planning stage of the scheme.
In addition to the 5,000 jobs the development can accommodate, New London Bridge House is an integral part of the planned London Bridge Station regeneration project that includes The Shard, an extensive public piazza and fully integrated public transport links.
Integration of the complex train, tube, bus and taxi connections, at what is one of London’s busiest transport hubs, is an important element of the overall redevelopment of the site. It will include creation of a new bus station on the north side of the scheme that will provide increased capacity and improved pedestrian links to both the mainline and underground stations.
Renzo Piano’s design for the scheme aims to create a balance between producing a building that maximises an undeveloped site yet is both visually exciting and sympathetic to its direct environment.
New London Bridge House will provide high quality office space, with typical floors of over 30,000 sq ft (2,787 sq m) each, capable of serving a single tenant or being subdivided for multiple occupancy. Access to the offices will be through a triple height entrance lobby located on a new piazza between the building and the station entrance.
It is also proposed to create a new entrance to the underground with an escalator link between street and concourse levels, together with 20,000 sq ft (1,858 sq m) of new retail space.
Renzo Piano’s team continues to develop the public piazza between The Shard, New London Bridge House and the Station in order to transform the present windswept and unattractive public space.
This new open space, or piazza, will be planted with mature trees and paved in high quality stone. At the same time there is potential within the piazza to introduce daylight at the Joiner Street level through the use of skylights and glass blocks while new escalators will provide a connection to both Joiner Street and the underground station.