Berkeley Group appoints Rogers for South Bank tower

Berkeley Group has appointed architect Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners to design a 22-storey tower on the south bank of the Thames, in the group’s latest foray into riverside London property.

Berkeley chair Tony Pidgley said Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) has been engaged to draw up a planning application for the site of Eastbury House, which it acquired in December.

The development will include at least 50 luxury apartments and is Berkeley’s second collaboration with Richard Rogers’ firm for waterfront living in the capital.

The purchase of the Eastbury site, made by the St James part of the group, follows Berkeley Group’s purchase of the site of the £700m Beetham Tower scheme out of administration in October last year. The group now has at least seven central London Thameside schemes either built or planned, including the RSHP-designed Riverlight scheme near the proposed US Embassy in Nine Elms, the Vauxhall Tower and One Tower Bridge next to the GLA building.

The firm has also been shortlisted by the London Development Agency as a potential purchaser of the £1.5bn Silvertown Keys Development.

Pidgley said: “We’ve bought the Eastbury site and we’re hoping to put a planning permission in anytime now.” He added that the firm had also considered purchasing the proposed Hampton House scheme next door, “but we couldn’t get to the price”.