Lambeth Council planning officers have recommended approval for the £2 billion Vauxhall Square redevelopment, a major mixed-use scheme led by a 69-storey residential tower in Vauxhall, south London. The application proposes 1,097 conventional homes alongside 1,164 co-living units, 699 student rooms, a hotel, offices, retail, community space and a cinema. The Planning Applications Committee is due to consider the scheme on 8 September 2026. It has not yet received planning permission.
The £2 billion figure published by development manager Bmor is the scheme's gross development value, not a construction contract award. A main contractor has not been publicly confirmed, and there is no publicly confirmed main construction start date. Vauxhall Square has a long development history. An earlier consent was partly implemented but most of the site did not progress into construction. London Construction Magazine previously included the scheme in its review of London skyscrapers that have been delayed, redesigned or remain outside main construction.
Architectural visualisation of the proposed Vauxhall Square redevelopment, including the 69-storey residential tower. Image: Pilbrow & Partners.
What Lambeth Officers Are Recommending
The application, reference 25/03113/EIAFUL, covers a 1.27-hectare site southwest of Vauxhall Station. Lambeth's committee report recommends that councillors resolve to grant conditional planning permission, subject to completion of a Section 106 agreement and any direction arising from a further referral to the Mayor of London. The proposal contains seven buildings around a new publicly accessible central garden and provides almost 220,000 sq m of gross internal floorspace. The tallest element, Plot 1, rises to 69 storeys and would contain 500 market-sale homes with retail at ground level.
| Plot / Use | Scale | Indicative Delivery Position |
|---|---|---|
| Plot 1 – Market housing | 69 storeys / 500 homes | Later phase in current indicative programme |
| Plot 3 – Build to Rent | 475 homes, including 120 Discount Market Rent homes | Currently envisaged after the student accommodation |
| Plot 4 – Social Rent | 122 homes | Later residential phase |
| Plot 5 – Co-living | 1,164 units | Phased separately from conventional housing |
| Plot 6 – Student accommodation | 699 rooms | First major building in the current indicative sequence |
The wider development also includes a hotel, office floorspace, flexible retail, community and healthcare uses, a cinema and new public realm.
Affordable Housing Falls to 25% but £79.9m Is Offered Off Site
Affordable housing is one of the most important changes made during the planning process. Earlier proposals targeted 35%, but the current scheme provides 25% affordable housing by habitable room across its conventional housing. That includes 122 Social Rent homes in Plot 4 and 120 Discount Market Rent homes within the Build-to-Rent element of Plot 3. The applicant has also proposed approximately £79.9 million in contributions towards off-site affordable housing, comprising contributions from the student accommodation and co-living elements.
Lambeth officers acknowledge that the 25% provision does not comply fully with adopted London Plan and Lambeth affordable-housing policy. However, they have given significant weight to the Mayor's temporary Support for Housebuilding guidance introduced in March 2026, which permits a lower 20% threshold through its time-limited planning route in qualifying circumstances. The recommendation therefore represents a planning judgement rather than confirmation that the development has met the existing 35% affordable-housing policy threshold. Officers concluded that the housing, affordable-housing, economic and regeneration benefits outweigh the identified policy conflicts.
How Vauxhall Square Could Be Built
The current planning documents contain an indicative phased construction sequence rather than one confirmed site programme. Student accommodation at Plot 6 is presently envisaged first, followed by the Build-to-Rent block at Plot 3. The hotel and office building and co-living block would follow, before the market-sale tower and Social Rent building. The cinema and final central landscaping would come later. Lambeth's report explicitly states that this sequence is subject to change depending on market conditions.
That flexibility matters on a scheme of this scale. Individual buildings have been designed so they can be delivered separately, with the central part of the site available for construction logistics while the plots progress through different phases. Pilbrow & Partners is the architect, with Bmor and Trigon acting as development managers. DP9 is planning consultant and Velocity is transport planning consultant. A main contractor has not been publicly confirmed, while a structural or civil engineer for the main construction programme was not publicly identified in the primary material reviewed for this article.
The redesign also demonstrates how building regulations are changing London's high-rise pipeline. Lambeth's own report says the previously consented tall buildings would require changes to comply with current fire-safety and Building Regulation standards, including additional staircase cores. London Construction Magazine has examined the wider implications in its analysis of how the second-staircase requirements are forcing design changes before high-rise construction can proceed.
Planning Approval Would Not Mean Construction Has Started
The next immediate milestone is the Planning Applications Committee meeting on 8 September. Officers are recommending approval, but councillors have not yet made that decision. Even if the committee resolves to grant permission, the recommendation requires a Section 106 deed and further referral to the Mayor of London. Lambeth's report also provides that if the Section 106 agreement is not completed within six months, authority may be delegated to refuse permission for failure to secure the required obligations.
Beyond planning, procurement and building-control requirements remain separate delivery stages. For any buildings falling within the higher-risk building regime, Building Safety Regulator approval would be separate from planning consent. No project-specific Gateway 2 approval for the proposed Vauxhall Square buildings was publicly confirmed in the material reviewed for this article. This distinction is increasingly important across London. As our London Planning Pipeline 2027–2030 shows, major schemes can pass one significant planning milestone while remaining several procurement, regulatory and commercial stages away from a genuine main-construction start.
For contractors and the wider supply chain, Vauxhall Square is therefore a major project to watch rather than an awarded £2 billion construction job. The next meaningful evidence will be the committee decision, completion of the Section 106 process and Mayoral referral, followed by confirmed procurement, regulatory approvals and physical mobilisation. Until those stages are reached, the 69-storey tower remains recommended for approval rather than ready to build.
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Expert Verification & Authorship: Mihai Chelmus
Founder, London Construction Magazine | Construction Testing & Investigation Specialist |
