Lambeth Council has approved a £2 billion Vauxhall Square scheme designed by Pilbrow & Partners for developers Bmor, Cedarstone Capital Partners and Cheyne Capital, a decision that matters to building and architecture professionals because it confirms London planning committees will still approve very tall towers even against explicit objections over carbon performance and heritage impact. Consideration was disclosed at £2 billion for the seven-building scheme; the site itself was purchased for an undisclosed sum in 2024 with financing from Cheyne Capital.

Bmor is a London-based property developer acting as development manager on the scheme alongside partner Trigon.

Pilbrow & Partners is a London architecture and urban design practice founded by Fred Pilbrow, replacing Allies and Morrison as lead architect on a site with planning permission dating back to 2012.

The seven-building masterplan will deliver 1,097 flats, 1,164 co-living units and student accommodation for 699 people, led by a 230.5-metre, 69-storey tower, alongside offices, a hotel, cinema, retail space and a publicly accessible gym and swimming pool.

Consultants Hoare Lea, Ramboll and Gardiner & Theobald form part of the wider project team.

The structural driver is London's continued tolerance for very tall towers at the top of the Vauxhall, Nine Elms, Battersea cluster, even as the scheme's affordable housing offer was cut from 35 to 25 per cent and critics called its carbon performance nearly double the Greater London Authority's benchmark.

For the sector, the timing matters because the narrow four-to-three committee vote, and a condition requiring a Whole Life Cycle Carbon Assessment before each phase can proceed, shows carbon scrutiny now shaping delivery sequencing on major towers rather than being resolved once at consent stage.

Formal objections from Historic England, Westminster Council and Wandsworth Council over harm to the Westminster World Heritage Site did not prevent approval, suggesting heritage viewing-corridor concerns are becoming a negotiating factor in tall building consent rather than an effective veto.

The broader implication for the sector is that architects and contractors pursuing London's tallest towers should expect carbon assessment conditions and reduced affordable housing ratios to become standard trade-offs for consent, rather than exceptional concessions specific to this site.

Source: BBC News / South London / Architects' Journal / Building Design