Native Land and its partners have submitted a planning application to the London Borough of Southwark for a key office building within its 1.4 million sq ft Bankside Yards development, aiming to capitalise on high levels of demand for sustainable, multi-let workspace in the Southbank market, where completed Grade A offices and future development opportunities are scarce.
The new plans, totalling 110,000 sq ft, will deliver more Grade A workspace than the existing consent, and will be especially suited to growing creative, media and technology business. Building 9 will be a new-era workspace, with enhanced sustainability features, both in construction and operation, together with more outdoor space, features which have become major priorities for occupiers as their staff return to work in the capital.
Building 9, in a prime Southbank location on the corner of Southwark Street and Hopton Street SE1, is one of four central London office projects that Native Land is currently developing, as part of its ongoing strategy to diversify beyond residential into major mixed-use and forward-thinking commercial development. Native Land has been the leading developer in the Bankside area for more than a decade. It is well advanced in delivering new workspace at Bankside Yards, having invested ahead of other pipeline developments, with the first offices there completing in summer 2022.
Planning consent for Building 9 was first approved in 2014. The revised planning application proposes:
- Raising the height of the building from eight to 13 storeys, increasing office floorspace from 65,000 to 110,000 sq ft. There will also be around 7,000 sq ft of flexible Class E space at ground floor, and space for 300 cycles.
- Increasing affordable workspace by 68% to 10,763 sq ft – enabling growing businesses to establish a foothold in one of central London’s most exciting neighbourhoods, located in a vibrant and continually evolving area of the South Bank.
- A host of new sustainability measures including all-electric building systems to achieve net zero carbon in operation, a more solid façade to reduce solar gain and heat loss, and using a post-tensioned concrete structure that keeps embodied carbon to a minimum, in line with the recently announced sustainability strategy for Bankside Yards.
- The revised proposals will also enhance biodiversity, with a previously inaccessible area of the site turned into nearly 4,300 sq ft of new public realm, including a pocket park and the introduction of new roof terraces on the sixth and tenth floors.
The revised Building 9, targeted for completion in 2025 is designed by leading office architects Stiff + Trevillion, as part of PLP Architecture’s Bankside Yards masterplan.
Jay Squier, Director – Mixed-use and Commercial at Native Land, said:
“Building 9 will meet pent-up demand in the Southbank market for quality workspace with high environmental standards, outdoor spaces and flexibility. As a leading Southbank developer, we have an acute understanding of the area, which has become a location of choice for media, creative, technology and professional businesses of all sizes. Building 9’s offer to smaller businesses will complement our nearby Arbor building which is designed for larger corporate users.”
Bankside Yards, a joint venture between Native Land, Amcorp Properties Berhad, HPL and Temasek, is a £2.5 billion mixed-use development adjacent to Blackfriars railway station which will connect London’s South Bank with Bankside for the first time in 150 years. The centrepiece will be 14 historic railway arches, restored to provide independent shops, restaurants, bars, cafés, and amenities, including new cultural spaces to complement the area’s world-class cultural offer, including the Southbank Centre and Tate Modern.
Using highly-efficient, low-carbon construction techniques, the Bankside Yards development is set to be the UK’s first fossil fuel-free major mixed-use property development. All eight buildings across the site will be powered by electricity derived from renewable resources, producing zero emissions in operation.
