Southwark planners support PLP-designed scheme of nine buildings developed by the Carlyle Group

Plans for a huge cluster of nine buildings on London’s South Bank designed by PLP Architects have been recommended for approval.

The scheme, by developer the Carlyle Group, involves the demolition of two existing buildings on either side of the train track passing through Blackfriars Station, the late 1970s Samson House and the mid 1980s Ludgate House, current home of UBM, the publisher of Building.

The two would be replaced with 1.4m sq ft of floorspace, including 494 homes, 450,000 sq ft of offices, 25,000 sq ft of retail and 18,500 sq ft of cultural space plus a ‘cultural pavilion’.

Southwark council planners have now recommended the project is given the green light ahead of a planning committee meeting next week.

A spokesman for the Carlyle Group said: “We are very pleased that Southwark’s planning officers have recommended for approval our outline planning application for a major new regeneration project on the south bank of the River Thames.

“We are now looking ahead to next week, when we hope that the members of the Strategic Planning Committee follow their officers’ lead and support the redevelopment to transform this under-utilised section of the South Bank into a vibrant new community and create around 3,700 jobs.”

UBM is due to move by 2015 to Great Portland Estates’ 240 Blackfriars Road office tower, which has started on site and is designed by AHMM Architects.

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