New Old Kent Road skyscrapers could see 1,000 student flats built

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

More than 1,000 flats are set to be built in skyscrapers up to 33 floors high under plans to give the Monopoly’s board’s cheapest street a makeover.

A developer has revealed fresh proposals to bulldoze a petrol station and disused warehouse in the Old Kent Road in Southwark and replace it with student flats, cheap homes and shops.

Regal London’s plans would see 941 student flats spread across two tower blocks. The tallest 33-storey block would contain 641 apartments for students, with a smaller 19-storey building having space for another 300 students. Another two buildings planned for the site would include 200 flats.

A 15-storey tower block would contain 75 shared ownership homes, properties where a person buys a percentage of a house and pays rent on the remaining amount. A 20-storey building would contain 125 social rent homes, the cheapest type of property where rent is linked to local incomes.

The Old Kent Road is due to undergo a huge transformation over the next 20 years, which could see 20,000 new homes built in the area.

Several skyscraper projects are already in the pipeline along the road. In February 2022 plans were revealed to demolish a Topps Tiles shop on the Old Kent Road and build three giant tower blocks containing 372 homes, including a 38-storey skyscraper.

In 2019, plans were approved to build a 48 floor skyscraper on the Southernwood Retail Park along the road as part of 724-home proposals to redevelop the site.

Southwark council has already approved separate plans brought forward by Regal London to build 565 homes on a larger site including the petrol station and disused warehouse. The proposals would have seen five buildings, the tallest 38-storeys high, built as well as offices and shops.

The proposed development was praised by council officers for the amount of housing it provided at the time. But planning documents submitted for the new development, known as Devonshire Place, say that since then the soaring cost of building has forced the developer to re-evaluate its options.

The new plans slash the number of homes in the development by more than half to just 200 and propose mainly student flats on the site instead. The number of affordable homes built on the site under the updated proposals is unchanged as all the 200 flats planned are considered to be a type of affordable housing.

Planning documents submitted to the council read: “Devonshire Place supports Old Kent Road’s strength as a place to live, work and do business, recognising its inner London character and accessible location.

“The proposed development facilitates the growth anticipated by the Bakerloo Line Extension, driving regeneration and providing better connections to the wider London economy and between existing communities.

“[The] 941 best-in-class student bedrooms and 200 new affordable homes across different tenures – all delivered through a design-led approach to site optimisation – contribute towards meeting objectively assessed housing needs for Southwark and London.”

A date has not yet been set for the application to be decided.

Pictured top: CGI of the proposed development in the Old Kent Road (Picture: Southwark council planning documents)