A fifteen-storey hotel will be built in Elephant and Castle despite local residents’ concerns that it will “dominate the skyline”.
Developer Create REIT’s plan to build the 50-metre, 89-bedroom establishment at 21 St George’s road was approved by councillors on Wednesday, March 29.
230 out of 239 respondents objected to the application, focussing mainly on the building’s height, impact on local conservation areas and increased traffic during construction.
But the architect argued that the height was proportional to the Elephant and Castle town centre and that the building had been designed to limit its impact on nearby heritage assets.
Speaking on behalf of objecting local residents, Mark Havelock-Allan told councillors: “We say it’s out of all proportion to the three to five-storey residencies in Elliots Row and Hayles Street and will excessively overbear them.
“It will also dominate the skyline when viewed from within the West Square garden and it is… an outlier in the Elephant and Castle townscape.”
But Michael Griffiths from Latitude Architects, who designed the building, argued that the Elliots Row Pocket Park was a “punctuation space” that separated it from the smaller residential buildings.
“Our view is that the building sits as part of the major town centre,” he said, adding that they had considered proposing a twenty-storey building.
Objectors had also argued the height breached the six-storey limit outlined in a supplementary planning document.
But the planning officer’s report pointed out that this document had been rescinded by the cabinet in October 2022.
The development will be on the site of Castle Works – two 1930s and 50s buildings joined together that host a two-person digital marketing company and a local theatre company.
The building is on the Southwark Local List of listed buildings but is not a designated heritage asset recognised by Historic England.
Mr Griffiths said it was “a tired, highly unsustainable and inaccessible building that has poor relationships to its surroundings”.
Objectors also said the development would infringe on the Elliots Row pocket park and the West Square Conservation Area – home to “one of the best Georgian set pieces in the borough” according to the planning officer’s report.
But John Hull, speaking on behalf of the developer Create, said the building would provide “an improved backdrop and financial contribution to the park”, a café and an affordable micro retail unit.
He added that “green walls had been incorporated to preserve the character of the pocket park as a quiet, community-focussed asset”.
Mr Hull also said the scheme would provide new offices, of which ten per cent would be affordable, as well as free meeting spaces for local community groups.
Liberal Democrat Councillor for St George’s ward Graham Neal also spoke against the proposal. He said: “We’re concerned that the hotel will create noise… with deliveries and the disposal of rubbish seven days a week.”
He said that nearby Hayles Street was too narrow to accommodate increased traffic and that cyclists and passengers at bus stops.
But the planning committee made up of seven Labour councillors and one Liberal Democrat backed the plans.
They all voted in favour apart from Cleo Soanes, Labour councillor for Peckham, who abstained.