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We have now submitted a planning application to the London Borough of Southwark for the redevelopment of Red Lion Court. The information below reflects the proposals as they stood during our final phase of public consultation (March-April 2022). Key planning documents detailing the submitted proposals are available on the Archive page. Please do get in touch with us via email at redlioncourt@kandaconsulting.co.uk if you have any questions or comments at this stage.
Through an initial feasibility assessment, early consultation with the public and conversations with the London Borough of Southwark, we identified several issues and opportunities with Red Lion Court, a tired and dated office building, that we plan to address through its redevelopment.
Our assessment highlighted; issues with public access through the site, concerns with how Red Lion Court interacts with the Thames Pathway, creating a noticeable pinch-point; an absence of amenities to support local people; and a desire for new public open spaces.
Meanwhile there is a need for new high-quality workspace in the area, supported in Southwark and London planning policy – something that we are unable to provide with the constraints of the existing building.
This led us to develop our design brief for Red Lion Court.
Our design brief – key principles
In our first consultation, half of those who responded fully agreed with the issues we’d identified and only 14% disagreed. The main request for us to consider was for genuinely green space in the new public spaces. This is now a key part of our design brief, where we are bringing forward two new public spaces with extensive greenery.
December 2021 – Red Lion Court drop-in event
Over the past year, we have met with many residents, businesses and organisations to understand local needs and aspirations and how the redevelopment of Red Lion Court could help address these.
Our engagement to date has included:
We would like to thank everyone who we has engaged in the project to date. Your views continue to be very important to us as we finalise our proposals for Red Lion Court.
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"A new workspace-led waterfront destination at Red Lion Court, providing key public benefits, spaces and public realm improvements, transforming the Thames Pathway."
We recognise the imperative to promote sustainability via our proposals for Red Lion Court and Landsec have set very high targets for ourselves, above and beyond planning policy. The proposals have been designed to have a ‘whole life’ carbon impact that is the same – or lower – than would be the case in a comprehensive refurbishment of the building, delivering a solution that is potentially more sustainable over the long term.
The proposals will:
Many of you emphasised the importance of sustainability in our proposals, and we have responded with an innovative and highly sustainable scheme. A small number of responses felt that the building should be refurbished, rather than redeveloped. We have carried out extensive studies into the various possible options, and the whole life carbon impact of these.
The existing building is at the end of its economic life and no longer meets the requirements of the local area and office occupiers. We have looked carefully at whether the existing building could be refurbished or adapted. However, the constraints of the existing building are a barrier to achieving the potential for this site and we would be unable to meet the changing requirements of occupiers through a refurbishment.
The redevelopment provides us with the flexibility to design a building that achieves all the brief requirements, including on sustainability, requirements of future occupiers and allows us to deliver substantial public benefits, new spaces and public realm improvements.
View of the north-east façade of the proposed Red Lion Court, showing new pocket park and expanded Thames Pathway
Our proposals for Red Lion Court include:
The site opportunities diagram
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Last year, plans were approved for an extension and refurbishment of the neighbouring office building, commonly referred to as the ‘Financial Times (FT) building’.
The plans include establishing a new pedestrian route and pocket park from the Thames Pathway to Park Street, between the former FT building and Red Lion Court. We are planning to enhance this pedestrian route with an equivalent space made available through the redevelopment of Red Lion Court, in addition to a new landscaped space facing the Thames.
The landscape design incorporates, new planting, trees, seating, cycle storage and grass areas, providing spaces to gather, pause and rest.
We are proposing a colonnade leading off the Thames Pathway to a tranquil urban pocket park, which we have initially called 'Park Street Square'. The new route and park will extend through to Park Street and align with Porter Street.
View 1A: View of Park Street entrance leading to new square
View 1B: View of Park Street entrance, and route through to Bankside
View 2: Park Street Square, a new pocket park shared with neighbouring FT building
We have set back the new buildings, to accommodate a wider Thames Pathway with new planting and seating. The pocket park we have called ‘Bankside Square’ includes new trees, planting and intimate seating spaces.
View 3: Bankside Square, a new pocket park on the Thames Pathway
View 4: Expanded and improved Thames Pathway from the Anchor pub
View 5 Bankside main entrance and pocket park from the Thames Pathway
In our second consultation 80% agreed with expanding the new pedestrian route, and genuinely ‘green’ spaces was the priority. However, there were also concerns about potential antisocial behaviour at night and this impacting the local residential communities. We are proposing to include gates on the pocket park and route through to Park Street, so the route is only open during the day.
The ground floor of Red Lion count is designed to be publicly accessible and provide a secondary route through from the Thames Pathway to Park Street. In addition to the lobby for both the new office and affordable workspace, we are proposing a cycle hub entrance with a bike workshop also available to residents and visitors, a new wellness or health centre and a flexible retail unit facing the river. This flexible space could accommodate a variety of uses such as shops, a café or restaurant.
Compared to the current Red Lion Court, these new ground floor uses will bring activity and new services to the area for residents, businesses and visitors.
Proposed ground floor and public realm
A number of local residents and groups have raised concerns about the saturation of alcohol-led venues in the area, and the negative impact on those who live locally. The new retail space (next to our affordable workspace entrance) facing the river would need to be able to accommodate likely future tenants, and with its thriving work and visitors’ economy, a restaurant or café use is the most likely use for at least part of this riverfront space.
Consideration is being taken on appropriate management. We will have a management team on site 24hr a day, and we will take measures to protect residents from disturbances, such as sound insultation and quiet closing doors. Hot food takeaway and pubs or bars will not be allowed in this unit.
We have situated uses which directly serve residents, office users and the community (cycle workshop and wellness centre) on the quieter Park Street side.
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The proposals for Red Lion Court respond to a clear need for new, high-quality workspace in the area, supporting local growth and employment.
Red Lion Court is within the Borough, Bankside and London Bridge Opportunity Area, as set out in the London Plan. This allocation is indicative of the growth that the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority (GLA) would like to see in the area – including the creation of 25,000 new jobs.
The proposed redevelopment of Red Lion Court will provide an uplift in space and create high-quality workspace, fit for the future. We are proposing to provide 21,000 sqm of workspace on the site.
The pandemic has highlighted a need for workspace to emphasise the health and wellbeing of occupiers, as well as collaborative working. We are designing a building that will deliver the quality of space required to attract world-class businesses and accommodate a variety of occupiers. We are also looking to future proof the building for life science occupiers, to support the vision for the hub developing around Guy's Hospital.
Finding inspiration in successful workspaces
In line with our commitment to workers wellbeing, workspaces will have access to outside space and fresh air on a variety of terraces. These will be heavily planted and screened from existing residents and will add considerably to local biodiversity. Servicing and deliveries will all be accommodated off street within agreed hours of operation, and we are making commitment to ‘consolidate’ deliveries to reduce the number of vehicle trips.
We are also designing the building to provide workspace that is more energy efficient and has minimal impact on our planet’s resources achieving our aspirational benchmarks. This will include first class cycling facilities with over 800 spaces to encourage sustainable travel to work, including a prime front of house cycle entrance with cycle concierge, cycle repair services and sales of accessories, all of which can be accessed by residents.
We are aiming to deliver a policy-compliant affordable workspace offer, in which a proportion of the new workspace will be made available at discounted rents.
We are keen to provide a bespoke offer that responds to the needs of the local community and local businesses and are continuing to engage with stakeholders to identify priorities and opportunities.
The need for affordable workspace for small businesses was repeatedly mentioned as important, and some also felt these space could support community groups, or artists studios. We are continuing to develop a bespoke affordable workspace offer which meets local needs and have provided a policy compliant affordable workspace offer on the ground and first floor.
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Our designs have been shaped by regular engagement with planning officers at the London Borough of Southwark, as well as engagement with the local community.
Priorities throughout the process have included protecting local and long-distance views of the city. This includes the careful consideration of St Paul’s Cathedral (and notably protecting a view of the Cathedral from Nunhead Cemetery and One Tree Hill).
We are also keenly aware of the impacts we may have on our neighbours; the former FT building; the Anchor Inn pub; the Premier Inn; and homes on Park Street. Over the course of the design development we have reduced the height of the building to accommodate these factors.
We are therefore proposing a building of varying stepped heights and volumes. The tallest element will be at the centre of the building, stepping down on both the northern and southern elevations, the lowest elements will be facing Park Street to the South and the Premier Inn to the east.
The base of the building will also be lifted to create additional public realm - the key priority identified in our early engagement.
Our approach to height and massing
Our developed proposals for the building seek to respond to the character of the local area. The design has been inspired by historic warehouse buildings that used to be located at Red Lion Court and in the immediate area.
Finding inspiration in the character of the area
Finding inspiration in successful façade designs
The proposals include brick – a building material long used in the area – with large windows overlooking the Thames and smaller windows on the Park Street side of the building.
This approach maximises views of the river while respecting the privacy of residents on Park Street. The approach is also designed to promote sustainability, varying the sizes of window apertures to suit the orientation of the building. This means the southern facade can remain cool in summer and protect residents’ privacy, and the northern side has more natural daylight.
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The Red Lion Court development will bring new jobs and opportunities to the borough of Southwark and the ward of Borough and Bankside specifically. In addition, the development has the potential to catalyse a substantially greater impact on the local area in terms of jobs and skills, support for local businesses, support for small and medium enterprises, support for the local community and environmental improvements by developing and implementing a coherent and holistic Social Value Strategy.
Social Value Portal is preparing a Social Value Statement to outline the Social Value Strategy for Red Lion Court which will be submitted with the planning application and demonstrates Landsec’s commitment to the long-term success of this development to see that as much social, economic and environmental value as possible is generated.
In developing the Social Value Strategy for Red Lion Court, it is important to understand the specific local needs and priorities of the immediate area and region so that the most appropriate activities can be identified that will help to address these needs. Therefore, social value initiatives for Red Lion Court will include:
You can find out more about our existing partnership here.
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View of the proposals from the Thames
Our proposals for the redevelopment of Red Lion Court will deliver a wide variety of benefits for the local area and community.
It is estimated that the social value to be delivered via the proposals – in terms of local employment, affordable workspace, education and support for local supply chains – will exceed £200m.
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Red Lion Court viewed from the Thames
Thank you for your feedback on our final proposals for Red Lion Court. Following this consultation and final revisions, we plan to submit a planning application to the London Borough of Southwark.
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We are committed to continuing to engage with interested residents and stakeholders throughout the planning process.
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