Elephant & Castle’s new 15-storey hotel will tower over homes, residents fear

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents fear a 15-storey hotel approved on the edge of a conservation area will tower over their homes.

Low-rise offices on St. George’s Road in Elephant and Castle will be bulldozed to make way for the 89-bed hotel, after Southwark councillors voted to pass the plans at a meeting on Wednesday.

The building, which will be over 50 metres tall, is set to also include offices, a café or restaurant and two storeys of basement flats.

But people living nearby fear the tower block will be out of place among the surrounding low-rise streets, which contain two conservation areas.

Speaking on behalf of local residents, Mark Havelock-Allan, who lives on Hayles Street, said the building was too tall for the area.

He told the planning meeting: “We say it is out of all proportion to the three to five storey residences in Elliot’s Row and Hayles Street and will excessively overbear them.

“The site lies outside the Elephant and Castle major town centre as delineated in the Southwark Plan and it is within that area that all the tall buildings in the Elephant and Castle regeneration have so far been confined.”

The planned hotel would be in touching distance of the Elliot’s Row and West Square conservation areas, the latter which Mr Havelock-Allan noted contained 18th century grade-II listed houses.

He added: “It’s also out of proportion to the three to four storey residences in West Square and its surrounds. It will also dominate the skyline when viewed from within West Square Gardens.”

But Michael Griffiths from Latitude Architects, which designed the planned hotel, said the tower was sympathetic to nearby buildings.

He told the meeting: “We’ve actively considered the neighbouring Hayles Building and incorporated a lower landscaped block to respond sensitively to it.

“Less frequently occupied circulation areas within the hotel have been positioned to face residential properties and windows have been permanently obscured wherever necessary to protect the privacy of residents.”

Describing the present three storey buildings as “tired, unsustainable and inaccessible,” he added: “From the outset we thought the site was the ideal location for a high quality hotel that would sit in the heart of the town centre.”

Richard Leeming, Labour councillor for Dulwich Village, said he was concerned the planned tower block was too far away from Elephant and Castle town centre.

He said: “It feels to me it has crept too far west for comfort,” but Cllr Leeming went ahead to vote in favour of the redevelopment.

Pictured top: CGI of planned hotel from St. George’s Road in Elephant and Castle (Picture: Southwark council planning documents)