The final plot of Lendlease’s Elephant Park development is set to become an “office-led” building instead of housing as originally planned.
Under the Section 106 agreement signed in 2013 between Southwark Council and Lendlease, Plot H1’s “principal land use” is earmarked as “residential”.
But LendLease has submitted a new planning application for the site, which includes 62,974 sqm of floorspace including 48,750 sqm of office space and zero flats.
This is possible because, having built 2,689 homes on Elephant Park, with 25 per cent to be rented at an ‘affordable rate’, LendLease has already fulfilled its housing obligation.
However, the application has received hundreds of objections, highlighting a “loss of housing”, that the building is taller than the original plans, and a possible increase in traffic congestion.
The 35% Campaign, a housing campaign group, said: “This site was always intended for housing and it should be used for housing, not offices. LendLease has only built 25% affordable housing, when it should have been 35% – the difference could be as many as 300 urgently needed affordable homes.
“Southwark should tell Lendlease to make up the affordable housing shortfall on H1, which is the final Elephant Park site. It’s outrageous that they are even considering Lendlease’s proposal for an office block instead.”
The number of flats H1 could have provided was never specified but based on blocks already built, it might have accommodated approximately 340 homes.
The proposed 48,750 sqm of office space is almost a ten-fold increase on the 5,000 sqm business floorspace specified in the original Outline Planning Permission.
The 35% campaign also say Southwark Council has enabled this by making changes to the New Southwark Plan in 2021.
The New Southwark Plan would have made such a large office development impossible, but council-approved changes have paved the way for H1’s application, according to the 35% campaign.
Cllr Helen Dennis, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency & Sustainable Development, said: “The council refutes this suggestion. The changes to employment space made in the New Southwark Plan date back to the Employment Land Review of 2016. They reflect the need to accommodate new jobs in the borough while still enabling the council to meet its targets for new homes. The changes were tested, independently, by the Planning Inspectorate in 2020 and found to be sound.”
The demolished Heygate Estate, the site of the Elephant Park development, was built with 1,200 council homes.
Of the 2,689 homes being built on Elephant Park, only 541 are classed as ‘affordable’, and just 92 of those will be let at at social rent.
A spokesperson for Lendlease said: “The revitalisation of Elephant & Castle has been taking place for over a decade, in response to priorities set out by Southwark Council’s vision for the area.
“This proposal helps meet a requirement for new workspace and employment in the heart of the area, which has been identified in planning policy set out by the Mayor of London in the New London Plan and by Southwark Council. It’s symbolic of the area’s success and the evolution of the town centre that there is now such a clear need for new high-quality workspace, which will bring thousands of new jobs and a daytime population that will help the local economy thrive.
“This will be a striking and sustainable new building that has been designed to appeal to some of London’s most dynamic businesses; while also ensuring that a considerable proportion of the ground floor of the new building is maintained as publicly accessible space for use by local people.
“We’re also currently in discussions with Southwark and the NHS to provide a new community health hub within the building to help tackle health inequalities in the area.”
The application is expected to go before a planning committee some time in September.
Editors’ view: The case for housing over office space seems clear