Setback for Borough Road medical centre project

London South Bank University (LSBU) gained planning permission last November for the redevelopment of the derelict chapel near St George's Circus.

Costed at £11 million last year, the four-storey building designed by by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands will retain the frontage and side wall of the historic chapel and is due to comprise a student centre and other student support facilities and a primary care centre which is expected to become the new home for the well-regarded Princess Street Group Practice.

This week LSBU said in a news update on its website that "due to an overall increase in costs for stage one of the estates development programme, the Chapel project will be delayed for the time being until funding criteria have been met."

The statement continues: "The University will continue to pursue all opportunities to deliver the Chapel project in its current form."

The chapel remains on English Heritage's list of Buildings at Risk.

Meanwhile work continues apace on the £29 million 'Keyworth II' on Keyworth Street , a new eight-storey building replacing the former Students' Union building which has recently been demolished.

The new building, due to be completed in 2009, will provide teaching facilities for the university's Faculty of Health & Social Care, and the departments of Education and Sports & Exercise Science. It will also include mock-up hospital wards, specialist rooms for training nurses and medical staff and lecture theatres.

The project to stabilise and weather-proof LSBU's listed Georgian terraces on London Road and Borough Road is due to be completed this autumn, when the decorative protective wrap covering the buildings will also be removed.

News of the delay to the Borough Road project comes a week after LSBU announced a financial surplus for the fifth consecutive year.