42-storey Blackfriars Road tower plans go on display

The development site is on the south-western corner of Blackfriars Road and Stamford Street, close to Christ Church Southwark.

A planning application for the scheme was submitted to Southwark Council last month.

The vacant former Sainsbury's offices at Rennie House and Wakefield House will be demolished whilst the adjacent Mad Hatter pub and hotel will be retained.

Two pubs – the Paper Moon and the Brunswick Arms – will disappear if the scheme is approved.

Land Securities' proposals are for a 23-storey (104 metre) office tower on Blackfriars Road and a 42-storey (141 metre) residential tower on Stamford Street. The base of the residential tower will incorporate ground floor retail space.

A total of 286 new homes will be created, of which 119 will be designated as affordable housing.

The developer says that Wilkinson Eyre's design for the scheme "responds to the immediate site and to landmarks across London". The new design replaces an earlier scheme which included a single 200-metre tower. A previous proposal for the site mooted in 2004 included a 32-storey tower.

Land Securities claims that the facets of the residential tower are angled in such a way that views will vary from unit to unit with views to Parliament Hill in the north and Crystal Palace in the south.

The public realm will – according to the developer – be "significantly enlarged and much improved" by a new public space connected to Blackfriars Road, Stamford Street, Paris Garden and Christ Church Garden.

"Our plans for 20 Blackfriars Road are an excellent example of the new generation of mixed-use development in Central London," says Mike Hussey of Land Securities.

"The scheme offers high density living in a central location within an enviable setting of landscaped open spaces, with immediate access to the unique cultural attractions of the location. The scheme will also reinforce the commercial substance of the area."

If the scheme is approved it will mean that the northern end of Blackfriars Road is set for dramatic change over the next few years with at least four other developments in prospect.

Land Securities declined to provide a visualisation of the proposed scheme for publication on this website, but the proposals will be on display at 19-23 Blackfriars Road (next to the Paper Moon) on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 March – details here.