Transport for London (TfL) has selected Helical as the developer to help build a seventeen-storey office block on top of Southwark Station.
As part of a joint venture in which it takes a 51 per cent stake, Helical will also help TfL develop offices on top of Bank and Paddington stations.
TfL is building these offices to raise more revenue, having struggled to stay afloat ever since the coronavirus pandemic.
TfL looking for help building 75-metre office block on Southwark Station
Scott Anderson, head of property development at TTL Properties Ltd (TTLP), said money made from the offices would “generate vital additional revenue, which can be reinvested into the transport network”.
The Southwark Station offices, first approved in 2021, will be 75-metres high and mean widening the pavement on the Cut, the street that runs past the station.
TfL says the construction will be net-zero carbon emissions and the finished building will be partially heated by excess heat from the station below.
It says Helical was chosen following “a competitive procurement process” involving “London’s most accomplished office developers and investors”.
Helical Property Director Matthew Bonning-Snook said the “superbly located schemes” were “hugely exciting”.
TfL regards developments like these as vital a source of future revenue.
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Unlike public transport systems in most Western cities, which usually get over half their funding from central government, 72 per cent of TfL revenue comes from passenger fares.
But covid-19 emptied train carriages and decimated TfL revenue. Even after accepting a £3.6 billion government bailout, it’s left with a £400 million shortfall.
So TfL set up TTLP, a development entity, wholly owned by TfL, to build offices and housing across London.
In February, Network Rail and TfL announced plans to work together to build at least 20,000 new homes over the next decade through TTLP.