Transport for London and Native Land looking for ways to reduce costs on highly controversial scheme approved at appeal last year
Transport for London and Native Land are looking for ways to “value engineer” the design of RSHP’s highly controversial redevelopment at South Kensington tube station.
The transport body and the developer are assessing options to reduce construction costs on the mixed-use scheme, which was approved at appeal in December last year two years after being rejected by councillors amid a storm of local opposition.
The plans are currently set to provide 50 new homes, a range of shops and restaurants and a four-storey office block which will require the demolition of the station’s two-storey “Bullnose” building.
But TfL’s property company Places for London said it was now working with Native Land to “further establish costs and viability” on the scheme, adding it was “revalidating the project’s requirements and scope and seeking opportunities to value engineer the design”.
It is understood the outline of the scheme will not change but the pair are considering more cost effective ways to deliver a project which has already faced years of funding and planning delays.
RSHP’s plans are the sixth separate set of proposals to be worked up for the site since the 1980s, all of which have been hit by strident opposition from heritage campaigners.
Scott, Brownrigg & Turner, Terry Farrell & Partners, Francis Machin, John McAslan & Partners and Buckley Gray Yeoman were responsible for previous schemes.
Campaign group Save Britain’s Heritage said the latest RSHP-designed vision for the site threatened to overwhelm South Kensington’s famously airy and low-rise station with “anywheresville” office buildings.
“We have consistently supported the principle of new development but always argued it should reflect the low-scale village character of the conservation area,” the group said in a statement last year.
“TfL’s 2014 development brief set out just such a vision for a conservation-led scheme, backed by the local community. This scheme has achieved the opposite.”
Cem Kemahli, lead member for planning and public realm at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, described last year’s decision by the planning inspector to overturn the council’s rejection as a “disappointing blow” for people who live in the area.
“South Kensington is a world class destination. Destinations need transport links and development but not at any cost,” he said. “Certainly not at the cost of the area’s recognisably distinctive and much-loved character.”
Places for London have said the approved plans would enhance the South Kensington Station buildings and the surrounding streets.
Native Land chief executive Alasdiar Nicholls has described the redevelopment as a “high-quality scheme that will protect the heritage of the station while bringing a renewed sense of place to South Kensington”.
TfL has been contacted for comment.
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