Buildings to be demolished to make way for new tower block with public plaza and café

By Charlotte Lillywhite, Local Democracy Reporter

Planning permission for a 16-storey tower block with new offices, a public plaza and café was granted on Tuesday.

The new development, which has been given the go ahead by Wandsworth council, will be a 10 minute walk from the new Battersea Power Underground Station.

To make way for the new tower block, buildings at 5-7 Havelock Terrace will be knocked down.

The tower block will include offices and studios for small to medium-sized businesses, industrial units, workshops and other creative spaces, under the scheme from WORKSPACE 13 Limited.

There will also be a café on the ground floor and a public plaza along Palmerston Court, according to application documents, and other facilities for workers such as a gym and yoga room.

Application documents said: “The proposed building sits well within the skyline of existing and emerging tall buildings in the area and the public realm design not only improves pedestrian links past the site and the public realm offer but also enhances the biodiversity of the area and serves the local community.” There are currently two three-storey buildings on the site.

Conservative councillor Guy Humphries said he welcomed the new office space but wanted reassurance the light industrial units will be “preserved” in future, at the council’s planning committee on Tuesday.

He said: “Obviously we know in the borough we haven’t got an awful lot of industrial land and we want to keep that as best we can and I wouldn’t want it to get squeezed out anywhere by the office space.”

Siri Thafvelin, senior planning officer at the council, said the application includes a condition that “secures the light industrial space as light industrial rather than letting it convert into any other use”.

A report to the committee added: “The scheme represents a full re-provision of the light industrial space and a significant increase in office floor space to intensify and optimise the use of the site.

“The resulting development is estimated to provide a total of 1,134 jobs during the operational phase of the development, which would be a significant increase compared to if the existing buildings were to be occupied at the same density.”

An application form for the scheme, published in November 2022, estimated it will cost more than £100 million.

David Tidley, team manager in transport strategy at the council, said the application also proposes £475,000 to strengthen local bus services and £600,000 towards a project from Transport for London to improve Nine Elms Lane and Battersea Park Road. Councillors approved the new tower block at the meeting.

Pictured top: CGI of the Havelock Terrace scheme (Picture: Workspace Group/Squire and Partners)