SE1’s second tallest tower: 18 Blackfriars Road plans revealed

The long-awaited proposals for the 18 Blackfriars Road site were revealed this week, a year after the developer invited local residents to an exhibition and then cancelled it at short notice.

The site – bounded by Blackfriars Road, Stamford Street, Paris Garden and Christ Church Garden – is owned by Malaysian-backed, Jersey-registered company Black Pearl.

It's seven years since plans to develop the site were approved by the then communities secretary Hazel Blears after a public inquiry.

Black Pearl has retained the architects of that scheme – Wilkinson Eyre – but has tweaked the proposals to make the main tower even taller and to include a large hotel in the plans.

Under the latest plans, the development will include a 52-storey residential tower fronting Stamford Street.

At 178.5 metres tall, it would stand even higher than the One Blackfriars tower (163 metres) currently under construction nearby. For comparison, the BT Tower is 177 metres high.

The upper floors of the tower would include 227 homes for sale on the open market.

A 32-storey office block would front Blackfriars Road, with a cycling cafe proposed alongside cycle superhighway 6.

Between the new buildings a new square with 'animated water feature' would adjoin Christ Church Garden.

A lower block would run along Paris Garden, including hotel rooms and – at the southern end – 64 flats of 'affordable housing'.

The scheme approved in 2007 included 286 homes of which 119 were to be 'affordable'.

The latest proposals include a total of 548 hotel rooms.

• The plans will be on display in unit G11 at Oxo Tower Wharf between 10am and 1pm on Saturday 19 November. The exhibition display boards will also be published at www.18blackfriarsroad.co.uk