Scape submits plans for Southwark student tower

Scape has submitted plans for a 45-storey purpose-built student accommodation development near Elephant and Castle in south London.

The developer and student accommodation operator is seeking permission to redevelop 229-235 Southwark Bridge Road, providing more than 800 student bedrooms alongside commercial and community space and improvements to the surrounding public realm.

Morris+Company has designed the scheme on behalf of Scape, with the proposals also including a contribution of more than £30m towards affordable housing in Southwark.

The development would involve the demolition of the existing building at 229 Southwark Bridge Road and Pocock House to make way for the new PBSA building.

Two locally listed buildings at 231 and 233 Southwark Bridge Road would be retained, remodelled and brought back into use as flexible commercial and community accommodation.

Scape's proposals are intended to make more intensive use of an under-used site in a highly accessible location north of Elephant and Castle, close to public transport connections and a number of higher education institutions.

The student tower would include shared amenity space alongside its accommodation, with the development designed specifically for student use.

At street level, the retained buildings would accommodate active, public-facing uses, while the plans include new publicly accessible open space and additional landscaping.

The proposals would also overhaul the site's relationship with Southwark Bridge Road.

Servicing and back-of-house functions would be moved away from the street frontage, while new active ground-floor uses, planting, lighting and public realm improvements are intended to create a more pedestrian-focused environment.

The scheme forms part of continuing development activity around Elephant and Castle and the surrounding area, where a series of major residential, student accommodation and mixed-use projects have increased development density over recent years.

Scape's application also illustrates the increasingly close relationship between new PBSA development and affordable housing provision in London.

Rather than conventional housing forming part of the Southwark Bridge Road development itself, the project would make a financial contribution of more than £30m towards affordable housing elsewhere in the borough.

The proposals combine that contribution with the retention and refurbishment of the two locally listed buildings and new public realm as part of the wider package of planning benefits.

If approved, the development would add another substantial purpose-built student scheme to London's pipeline at a time when developers and operators continue to target well-connected locations within reach of major university campuses.

The planning application has now been submitted to Southwark Council for consideration.