671-679 Old Kent Road gains planning approval

NEWS

Stitch is delighted to announce that its first student housing project has achieved unanimous planning approval.

Located on the Old Kent Road in Southwark the scheme creates a distinctive addition to the area, offsetting the scale of recently approved proposals with its modest scale and elegant proportions. The development offers 267 student bedspaces to incoming students at the University of London, of which 35% of bedspaces will be affordable. The ground floor provides generous student amenity space opening onto a new public pocket park. Flexible commercial space facing Old Kent Road presents a lively street frontage framed by retained mature trees.

The vision was to create a “Pearl” for the Old Kent Road, using the narrow KFC drive-through site to create a slender, elegant addition to the neighbourhood.

In contrast with the neighbouring taller red brick consented schemes, the building uses a lighter material palette and offers relief along the street elevation in terms of height and architectural detail. A profiled glazed blue brick accents the facades facing north and south to give a pearlescent quality while the rest of the elevation benefits from a formal expression using a 2-storey grid.

Celebrating the opportunity to enhance green space in the area, the scheme retains mature trees to create the new pocket park, providing an important link in the “green chain” between Ruby Triangle and Livesey Park. Sheltered from the Old Kent Road this small park will be enjoyed by students and the wider community.

This building will be a catalyst to development on the Old Kent Road, with Tribe committed to completing in time to welcome students for the 2024/25 academic year.