Scheme to retain facade of locally listed Victorian warehouse
Southwark council has given the green light to Ackroyd Lowrie’s plans to transform a Victorian warehouse in Bermondsey into a six-storey co-living scheme.
The 47-49 Tanner Street scheme will partially demolish, refurbish and extend the locally listed existing building with the consent including two delivery options for either 109 or 112 rooms.
It has been designed for property developer Bywater, which acuired the site from a previous owner and appointed Ackroyd Lowrie to redraw a previous set of proposals for an office development designed by SPPARC.
Ackroyd Lowrie co-founder Oliver Lowrie said: “This really is a dream project for us - it puts sustainability at the front and centre of the design process. Not just in the retention and celebration of the existing Victorian Warehouse, but through the cross laminated timber structure, and many other specification decisions. We cannot wait to build the next part of this beautiful site’s history.”
Bywater development manager Chris Riley added that Southwark’s consent ”enables us to bring forward a carefully designed, best in class, low‑carbon scheme that raises the bar for sustainable urban living in Bermondsey.”
SPPARC’s plans for the site, designed for Cetza Trustees, were approved in 2019 and lawfully implemented, although no buildings on the site were demolished.
Bywater appointed Ackroyd Lowrie to redraw the scheme last year, with the team holding its first meetings with Southwark council in January 2025.
According to planning documents for the revised scheme, Bywater opted to reposition the site as co-living due to the high number of office schemes already under construction in Southwark, and because the site was considered too small to support traditional housing.
SPPARC’s proposals for the site featured a largely glazed facade on the scheme’s main building, which will be replaced with a lightweight metal cladding under Ackroyd Lowrie’s revised plans.
The new proposals will also replicate SPPARC’s plans to retain the facade of the late 19th century warehouse, which is positioned as the centrepoint of the scheme’s frontage on Tanner Street.
A three-storey brick-clad element sitting alongside the retained warehouse facade also features in both schemes.
Restoration works to the warehouse facade will include cleaning bricks in situ, re-pointing brickwork, replacing missing bricks and repairing small cracks in the stonework with lime mortar.
Ackroyd Lowrie said the restoration aims to enhance the surrounding Bermondsey Street Conservation Area and extend the life expectancy of the existing building.
The project team includes Gardiner & Theobald as project manager, Studio GB as landscape architect, Curtins on transport, Smith Jenkins on heritage, Engenuiti on structures and Kanda on community involvement.
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