Avonmouth Street: plans for 16-storey student accommodation block
Plans for a 16-storey block of student accommodation just off Newington Causeway near Elephant & Castle have been submitted to Southwark Council.
Student accommodation provider Tribe wants to redevelop the site of the Avonmouth House conference centre close to Inner London Crown Court and Newington Gardens.
The scheme would include 233 rooms of student accommodation, as well as provision for offices or a health hub.
According to the planning application documents, Avonmouth House operator etc.venues considers the conference centre 'surplus to requirements' and the staff and business will be relocated to nearby Prospero House in Borough High Street.
Planning consultants HGH, in their submission on behalf of Tribe, say: "The proposed development, designed by Stitch Architects, is of the highest quality and would deliver an exemplary design solution for this site. The architecture is expressed as a group of elements of differing heights which relate to different orientations."
They add: "It will form part of the emerging cluster at Elephant & Castle and will represent an appropriate transition between the tallest elements located on Newington Causeway including Two Fifty One, 89 and 87 Newington Causeway, and the lower scale further north on Newington Causeway and to the south and east of the site. Its height will contribute to this emerging cluster that defines the gateway into the central area of Elephant & Castle."
Avonmouth House is a short walk from both London South Bank University and the London College of Communication. The applicant claims that there is "a substantial deficit in the supply of student housing relative to the number of students living and studying in Southwark".
The planning application is accompanied by a letter of support from the University of London.
• For more information see 21/AP/4297 on the Southwark planning register
