Winning design picked for LSE's Bankside House development
The winners of design competition to draw up plans for the London School of Economics' massive new halls of residence next to Tate Modern have been announced.
The new student accommodation - with up to 2,000 beds - will replace the 1950s Bankside House.
The LSE turned Bankside House - originally built as offices linked to the adjacent power station - into a student residence in the 1990s.
Whilst the existing building has 595 beds, the LSE is looking to more than treble the capacity of the site, with a design based on the idea of three ‘houses’ each of around 650 students.
This week a joint submission by architects Carmody Groarke and Sheppard Robson was named as the winning scheme for the development which the LSE is constructing with development partner Bouygues UK and Equitix.
Julian Robinson, LSE's director of estates, said:
This is the first time LSE has run a design competition with development partners and I’m delighted the school’s record of procuring outstanding architecture has been maintained. The new Bankside will be an extension of our world class estate and exceptional student experience.”
Images released this week are careful to avoid showing the height of the proposed new buildings.
A timeline published by the LSE earlier this year indicates that if the scheme is approved by Southwark Council in 2025, construction could start in 2026 with students moving in to the new accommodation in September 2030.
