Proposal for 31-storey office tower and linked groundscraper by AHMM swapped for overhaul of 1960s block
The developer behind a proposal to replace Elizabeth House in London’s Waterloo with a 31-storey tower has confirmed it is looking at refurbishing the 1960s building and has ditched most of the office space it was planning for mixed-use instead.
Under its new plan, HB Reavis said it has replaced AHMM, the architect on the previous new build proposal, with PLP.
Others working on the new proposals, which Building revealed in June the developer was mulling over, include planning consultant Newmark, structural and civil engineer Heyne Tillet Steel, Sweco on building services and sustainability, transport engineer Momentum, fire engineer OFR and landscape architect Landscape Design Associates.
The consented AHMM scheme was valued at £600m in 2017 and would have contained around 1.2 million sq ft of office and retail space, significantly more than PLP’s 22 Bishopsgate.
But it was repeatedly delayed and HB Reavis began looking at refurbishing the existing 16-storey block because of concerns over the stalling London office market.
Called One Waterloo, the PLP scheme will include two hotels, student accommodation, built-to-rent homes, workspace and public realm. It added the proposals will “revitalise the station frontage” with new shops, restaurants and leisure spaces.
It said the new proposal will target embodied carbon cuts of 75%, compared to the demolition and new build approach it had been planning.
The developer said that completion is scheduled for three and a half years after planning permission from Lambeth council with a planning application due to be sent in early next year.
It said: “PLP Architecture has reimagined the existing building to reduce engineering complexity and minimise disruption next to the UK’s second-busiest train station.”
A public consultation on the plans is scheduled to begin on 8 September with four events being held on nearby Waterloo Road.
HB Reavis chief executive Steven Skinner said: “We have spent a long time looking closely at the site and what this part of Lambeth really needs. We are excited to share our ideas for a mixed-use scheme, including new homes, workspaces, shops and places for people to come together that will make this a genuine destination.”
The AHMM plan would have seen the 1960s block, designed by John Poulson Architects, torn down and replaced with a 31-storey tower and groundscraper stretching for more than 200m along the side of Waterloo station. It was given planning nearly seven years ago with final sign-off agreed in April 2021.
But the project, which was supposed to be completed last year, was repeatedly held up.
Two years ago, Transport for London said HB Reavis had “paused” the scheme following a disagreement over a lift shaft while last year, an application for an 18-month meanwhile use was submitted.
AHMM was the third architect to work on the project after David Chipperfield, a former tenant of the building, and before that Allies and Morrison were both appointed and ultimately ditched.
HB Reavis has owned the site since 2017 after the firm bought it from developers London & Regional and Chelsfield for an undisclosed sum.
The Chipperfield proposal was called in by the Conservative government’s then communities secretary Eric Pickles in 2013 before being given the green light by a High Court judge the following year.
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