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Sky Gardens | Nine Elms | 120m | 35 fl

205K views 481 replies 124 participants last post by  thevladski 
#1 · (Edited)
A new 120m 35 floor tower in Vauxhall sneaked under the radar and went in for planning in July. Its 35 Storeys and just South of the Vauxhall roundabout. Its in the Vauxhall-Nine elms opportunity area which is going to be a new redevelopment hotspot in the next 10-15 year. Other projects planned in the area include the Vauxhall tower, a major redevelopment of Nine Elms market, a new US embassy & large developments from Ballymore & Arab investors as well as the planned Battersea Power Station redevelopment.

It might also mean some of the long dead projects such as the Bondway tower might resurface.

Architects are Cary Jones & developers are Fairbriar Projects,

Suprrise surprise the local association in Kennington is against the proposal as it doesn't contain enough 3 & 4 bed flats.... Oh yes, forgot to mention they are opposed to the height (excessive apparently).





















http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/planning_decisions/2008/20080923.jsp#2
 
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#97 ·
Went past by bike 30 minutes ago, there was a single digger operating on the site - I expect it was levelling the ground or removing debris. I think there's still a warehouse type building that needs to be demolished on the site - although it could be a neighbouring site.
 
#98 ·
The affordable housing issue has been resolved at a planning committee meeting:

VAUXHALL SKY GARDENS SKIMPS ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Full story: http://hovelled.com/works-starts-on-vauxhall-sky-gardens/
Lambeth’s Planning Committee on Tuesday night approved Vauxhall Sky Gardens’ latest attempt to change their development as work begins on site. Vauxhall Sky Gardens, a 120m high rise residential building located opposite the Vauxhall Sainsbury’s and near to Keybridge House, caused controversy locally when they submitted an application to remove all affordable homes earlier this year.

The committee voted on proposals to reduce the number of ‘affordable’ homes from 59 to 41. The developers originally submitted plans to completely remove the affordable housing element of their scheme after they failed to secure grant funding. After negotiations with Lambeth’s planning department they agreed to keep the initially planned 35 social rent units in a separate on-site building and provide 6 intermediate rent units in the lower floors of the tower. The initial agreement prior to the attempted change had the same number of socially rented units, but 24 shared ownership flats instead of the 6 intermediate rent homes. At the Planning Committee both the Labour and Conservative councillors voted for the plans, with the Lib Dems opposing them. A review is to take place in a year which could increase the number of intermediate rent units if market conditions improve.

Continues...
 
#106 ·
They've started marketing the apartments, but my guess would be that financing to build is only released after they sell a certain percentage. Given the marketing website was first noticed in August, and given the developer isn't a big fish with the contacts to get quick sales, it's not surprising nothing is happening yet. I wouldn't be too surprised if the development ends up being sold to a more experience developer before too long - there was talk of this happening a year ago.
 
#108 ·
There are some signs of life on the site - the old concrete flooring that was left behind from the building within the site seems to have been excavated somewhat in the last few days, some orange barriers have appeared, and this morning there were some people in high-vis jackets mooching about behind the hoardings.

The pavement outside is also being dug up in a few places (probably unrelated).

Too early to point to any definite activity, but worth keeping an eye on this for a possible start of works...
 
#109 ·
This morning there was a fairly large digger being delivered to the site - and at least two portakabins have also appeared. I took the rather bad photo below form a bus on the move, but if you click through to the full scale version there's enough activity to suggest this could be a start of works.

Which - together with the work on Sainsbury's opposite (where the petrol station has gone, and work seems to be ongoing at quite a pace to ship out all of the contents of the old supermarket - the car park currently hosts an array of what look like shelves, fridges, tills wrapped up in plastic sheeting...) means that we might be about to see a construction race between two new towers immediately opposite each other.


Start of works? by Swissdave, on Flickr
 
#112 ·
Construction now looks imminent. Here's a view of the concrete blocks Retro Specs mentions above - which do indeed look like the start of a protection canopy. Note also the increased concentration of diggers and action in the main site.


DSCF5957 by Swissdave, on Flickr


DSCF5959 by Swissdave, on Flickr
 
#117 ·
The site is frustrating for anyone trying to take photos of, we're probably going to be relying on those taking the train until it gets above the hoardings - which is probably going to take the best part of a year.

The road next to it is closed - could this be due to work on site?

Keybridge House in the background. Still wish they could have kept the tower from this (instead of the smaller of the two towers planned at Keybridge House), reglazing and making it into loft style apartments with massive ceiling heights.

Untitled by inckamail, on Flickr

Untitled by inckamail, on Flickr
 
#120 ·
That ugly tower in the background of most of those pictures really needs to come down. Its so hideous even to only see at a glance. Really hope the proposals really come to fruition eventually.
 
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#121 ·
#123 ·
Well I had a look, and found that the developer had submitted a number of changes to the approved scheme at the beginning of the year:

There are several proposed changes. These comprise:
 Reorientation of the main tower by up to one metre.
 Stepping in of the eastern boundary by up to one metre.
 Repositioning of the residential reception/access, addition of a refuse enclosure and
widening of the pavement.
 Amendments to the layout of the parking areas and access to the basement and
servicing.
 Review of the refuse storage.
 Amendments to venting.

These changes were rejected by the council on the 31st of March 2014.

The same letter also mentions that site clearance is already underway. I'm not sure construction work has yet begun as the developer clearly wanted some substantial changes to the building.
 
#124 ·
They've been on the site doing works for so long on a site that didn't have a building on it (it had previously been demolished) that I can't see what they could have been doing other than digging the foundations, etc. I guess a lot of that can be done anyway even with the possible changes.

The project website is here - http://www.skygardensnineelms.com/
The flats are being advertised extensively in local estate agents, you always see them when walking past - really expensive for what they are too
 
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