Office scheme proposals for site next to centre for services personnel attracted 2,500 objections
Lambeth councillors have approved proposals for a controversial Waterloo office development that drew fire from a neighbouring organisation for service personnel.
Buckley Gray Yeoman鈥檚 20-storey office tower and MATT Architecture鈥檚 refurbishment of the adjacent 1950s office building Mercury House will deliver 30,352 sq m of new floorspace for developer Bourne Capital. The vast majority of the new accommodation will be for office use.
The Waterloo Central proposals, for a site opposite Waterloo Station and a stone鈥檚 throw from the grade II*-listed Old Vic theatre, also include around 2,500 sq m of bar and restaurant space and 700sq m of retail space.
The scheme has been consistently challenged by the Union Jack Club, which operates an accommodation and conference centre for armed forces personnel and veterans on a neighbouring site.
A report to Tuesday night鈥檚 meeting of Lambeth鈥檚 Planning Applications Committee said out of 2,541 representations related to the application, 2,498 had been objections.
The Union Jack Club鈥檚 concerns include the impact of the Bourne Capital scheme on its own redevelopment aspirations for the area.
After the plans first emerged last year, Union Jack Club chief executive Hugh Player said the Bourne Capital scheme would have a 鈥渟avage impact鈥� on the local area and the services the club could provide.
鈥淲e do not object to a redevelopment of our neighbour鈥檚 site, per se, but are shocked and deeply alarmed that the scale, height and mass proposed is architecturally incongruous and commercially excessive, as well as being contrary to the adopted local plan,鈥� he said.
Other objections included the loss of retail space at the site, which currently includes a small Sainsbury鈥檚 supermarket, and the impact of the tower on the Old Vic.
But recommending the scheme for approval, Lambeth Planning Officers said the proposals would promote economic activity and create space for 2,245 jobs 鈥� a 345% boost on the site鈥檚 existing uses.
They said the site was identified as appropriate for a tall building in the Lambeth Local Plan and that Buckley Gray Yeoman had produced 鈥渁 high-quality architectural design鈥� for a distinctive building that added positively to the townscape.
鈥淚t is considered that the proposal would not unacceptably impact upon the amenities of surrounding occupiers,鈥� officers added.
Officers added that MATT Architecture鈥檚 proposals for refurbishing 鈥渢ired and dated鈥� Mercury House would 鈥渂e a welcome enhancement to the visual amenity of the area鈥�.
In December 2021 members of the Planning Applications Committee for a nine-storey apartment building on a plot across the road from Mercury House because of its impact on the Old Vic.
The report to this week鈥檚 meeting said neither government heritage adviser Historic England nor the Greater London Authority had expressed concerns about the impact of Bourne Capital鈥檚 proposals on the Old Vic. They said it was agreed that the scheme would not result in harm to the theatre鈥檚 setting.
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