Plans to rebuild vacant office complex replaced with co-living refurbishment
Morris + Company has replaced Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands on the redevelopment of a vacant office site near the Tate Modern after the scheme was taken over by a new client.
The complex of buildings at 38 - 48 Southwark Bridge Road, built between the 1960s and 1980s, were set to be demolished and rebuilt as commercial space under plans by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands which were approved in 2023.
But the scheme, designed for UBS Asset Management, has now been replaced by plans for a shared living project designed by Morris + Co for a partnership between HUB and Bridges Fund Management.
The new proposals, submitted to Southwark council in April, would refurbish the existing five- to six-storey buildings and extend them with four additional storeys to provide 395 co-living homes and 1,900sq m of commercial space.
The existing buildings, which occupy a prominent site on the corner of Southwark Street and Southwark Bridge Road between Tate Modern and Borough Market, have not been in full time use for more than 25 years.
Since 2000 the buildings have primarily served as emergency office space for businesses which have had to evacuate their own premises due to safety concerns, and have been mostly vacant since the covid pandemic.
Both LDS and Morris + Co described the existing buildings as unfit for modern office use due to their low floor-to-ceiling heights, poorly lit areas, poor thermal performance and poor architectural quality.
However, Morris + Co said the site was “well-suited” to co-living residential use and the retention of the buildings’ structural frames would save 13,537 tonnes of concrete and 3,026 tonnes of carbon.
The firm’s plans include the construction of new lift and stair cores, new public realm and activation of street frontages with flexible commercial space and residents’ amenity space, aiming to improve the site’s contribution to the local townscape character.
Most roles on the new scheme have changed hands with MBA Consultants taking over from Arup on MEP and MacGregor Smith taking over from Studio GB on landscape. DP9 and Heyne Tillet Steel have kept their roles as planning consultant and structural and civil engineer, respectively.
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