Fears that a glut of construction activity on London’s South Bank will lead to gridlock have led to four major schemes establishing a joint strategy on the delivery of materials.

More than £700m of work will get under way over the next four years within a one mile radius of Blackfriars Bridge, and several large contractors are to set up a logistics framework.

Mace, Overbury, and two others not yet appointed, will work to ensure the site does not become congested by the four projects.The schemes are:

  • Herzog & de Meuron’s £215m Tate Modern extension, to be built by Mace. It includes a 23,400m2 building and a 7,000m2 of urban space. To start next year and complete in 2012.
  • Network Rail’s £250m redevelopment of Blackfriars station, with an entrance on the South Bank, is part of the £5.5bn Thameslink Programme to tackle overcrowding. Work begins next January and completes in 2011.
  • Allies & Morrison’s Bankside 1/2/3 complex is to be fitted out by Overbury and developed by Land Securities. To start this month and complete in 2009.
  • Rogers Stirk Harbour’s Project Bankside, 36,000m2 of residential space in five buildings next to Tate Modern. Remediation is under way and the scheme is due for completion in 2011.

The main stakeholders have set up a collective called the Bankside Logistics Group with representatives from each project team to manage the disruption in the area.

It’s to behave responsibly where a potential impact could be serious

Chris Watson, G&T

The group will meet to discuss the projects and look at pedestrian and vehicle movement.

Chris Watson, Gardiner & Theobald’s project manager for the extension to Tate Modern, is chairman of the group. He said: “It’s to try to behave responsibly in an area where potential impact could be serious.”

Postscript


More on the South Bank at www.building.co.uk/archive

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