New tower approved on London's Blackfriars Road

Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands has won planning consent from Southwark council for a new 6,330sq m office and hotel close to the South Bank at Blackfriars.

The 15-storey development by Derwent at 40 Blackfriars Road in central London will comprise of 3,880sq m of offices and a 192-bed hotel operated by The Hoxton as well as a ground floor cafe, mezzanine conference space and rooftop bar and restaurant.

The development, which will be built across the road from Building publisher UBM’s new headquarters building designed by AHMM, is the latest in a string of new towers which are being planned for Blackfriars Road.

The LDS scheme is due to complete in 2018.

Work is currently progressing on the Ian Simpson-designed 52-storey One Blackfriars which will rise to a height of 170m while plans by PLP to redevelop Ludgate House opposite and Sampson House on the other side of the nearby railway tracks have already been OK’d by the council.

LDS director Alex Lifschutz said: ”Blackfriars Road presents a major opportunity for architecture. The character of the area has been completely transformed in recent years and it’s now becoming a lively, buzzing boulevard. It’s appropriate that the kind of second-tier office accommodation that the old Wedge House represents is being replaced by a building that encourages the emerging character of the area.”