Lambeth Council’s Planning Applications Committee has resolved to grant planning permission for the Vauxhall Square redevelopment after a 4-3 vote on 8 September, backing a seven-building scheme that includes a 69-storey residential tower of 230.5m.
The resolution covers a phased mixed-use project on land beside Vauxhall station, brought forward by Bmor with Cedarstone Capital Partners and Cheyne Capital. It is not a construction start, a main contract award or a final planning permission. The decision remains subject to a section 106 legal agreement and referral to the Mayor of London.
What Lambeth has resolved to grant
Lambeth’s published planning description for application 25/03113/EIAFUL sets out a phased redevelopment, including demolition of all existing buildings and structures, to erect up to seven buildings ranging from three to 69 storeys plus basements.
The council’s summary of the proposal records 1,097 homes, 1,164 co-living units and 699 student bedrooms, together with 11,409sqm of hotel floorspace, 4,085sqm of office space, 3,968sqm of flexible retail, a 1,707sqm cinema and 1,780sqm of community or medical space.
The tallest building would stand at 230.5m and contain about 500 homes for sale. Committee coverage and subsequent reporting describe a 61-storey build-to-rent tower, a 61-storey co-living building and a 45-storey student tower. The scheme is designed by Pilbrow & Partners, with Exterior Architecture as landscape architect.
Bmor quotes a £2bn gross development value on its project page. That figure is a development value, not a confirmed construction contract sum. No main contractor has been publicly named.
Why the vote was close
BBC reporting of the committee decision records a four-to-three vote. Councillors who opposed the scheme pointed to the reduction of the affordable housing offer from 35 per cent to 25 per cent by habitable room, and to whole-life carbon.
Of the 1,097 conventional homes, the 25 per cent affordable offer comprises 122 social-rent homes and 120 Discount Market Rent homes. The applicant has used the Mayor of London’s time-limited fast-track route, which sits above the 20 per cent threshold. The student block is proposed with an off-site affordable housing contribution rather than 35 per cent affordable student rooms on site.
The committee attached a requirement for a Whole Life Cycle Carbon Assessment before construction of each phase. Historic England objected on heritage grounds, warning of incremental harm to the Westminster World Heritage Site and visual competition with the Palace of Westminster. Lambeth officers recommended approval, arguing that the proposals would not harm protected views and that the metal, glass and glass-reinforced concrete cladding created a unified but varied cluster.
Fred Pilbrow said the designs had been “shaped by an open and collaborative dialogue with Lambeth, the Greater London Authority and the local community” and had “unlocked this long-blighted site with a scheme tailored to local need.”
What this stage does and does not mean
A committee resolution to grant is a planning milestone, not a site start. Permission cannot be issued until the section 106 agreement is completed and the Mayor of London has considered the referred application. Only then would the project move from a resolution to an implementable consent.
That distinction matters on this site. London Construction Magazine previously recorded Vauxhall Square as a long-delayed and redesigned tower site, not an active high-rise construction job. An earlier Allies and Morrison scheme, consented in 2013 for towers of up to 50 storeys, was never fully built out. Cedarstone acquired the stalled site from R&F Properties in May 2024. Part of the wider landholding was sold earlier to Urbanest, which completed a Howells-designed student block in 2018.
The current applicant on Lambeth’s weekly list is Vauxhall Square (Nominee 1) Limited, with DP9 as agent. Development managers are Bmor and Trigon. Consultants named in subsequent project reporting include Hoare Lea, Ramboll and Gardiner & Theobald. GFH Financial Group is also listed by Bmor as an investor. None of that amounts to a confirmed construction appointment.
LCM’s Q3 project review placed Vauxhall Square in the planning column for the same reason: legal agreement and Mayoral process still sit between the committee vote and any lawful start on site.
Construction implications if consent is issued
If planning permission is issued, the next construction questions are demolition sequencing, basement works, logistics beside the railway viaduct and Vauxhall station, and Building Safety Regulator approval. The 69-storey tower, the 61-storey residential buildings and the 45-storey student tower would all be higher-risk buildings. Gateway 2 building control approval from the Building Safety Regulator is required before construction of those buildings can start.
The application is for demolition of all existing buildings and structures, then a plot-by-plot rebuild around a central public square. That points to a multi-phase programme rather than a single mobilisation. Secondary construction reporting has cited an enabling and construction window from January 2027 to February 2032. That programme has not been confirmed by the applicant as a construction start date, and it should not be treated as one until a contractor is appointed and Gateway 2 approval is in place.
The site sits in the Central Activities Zone and the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area, immediately south-west of Vauxhall station and hard against the railway. Servicing, craneage, basement excavation and façade installation will be constrained by the station interchange, the viaduct and the existing Urbanest building that already occupies part of the former masterplan.
The next verified steps are completion of the section 106 agreement and the Mayor of London’s decision on the referred application. A main contractor has not been publicly confirmed. Construction has not started.
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Founder and Editor, London Construction Magazine
Construction testing and investigation specialist. Writes on project status, procurement, regulation and delivery risk across London construction.
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