From this moment forward the Runoff will be referring to the patch of our terrain between Kennington Cross and Vauxhall as ‘Uptown KenVo’ due to the volume of high rises going up in the area. This afternoon we attended a consultation about a new development proposed (which means, it’s gonna happen) in Montford Place next to the gin distillery. For the observant sorts, we wrote about this plot of land in May as it used to be a pickle factory and was laterally used as a bottling site for Beefeater. Since it was purchased by TfL for the northern line extension in 2013 it has been the site of gravel and lorries…But not for much longer!
Developers Grainger Plc recently purchased the site and are in the early consultation stages of developing the site into two buildings. They aren’t as far along as development of the Applegreen site, but they could confirm that there will be two buildings, one 8 floors and the other 12 floors, with 140 flats. Of these 40% will be affordable housing and most will be studios and one bedroom flats, with building to start in 2021. We were told that the buildings will have the ‘look and feel’ of the homes on the Tesco site, which we assume was meant to be positive. The architect illustrated how the buildings will look by means of playing ‘Jenga’ to entertained onlookers and his efforts are below.
There will be a kind of ‘avenue’ between the buildings and Lambeth have stipulated that the shop fronts at ground level be dedicated to businesses which are not retail and reflect the demographic of people who might live in the residences, such as workspaces. While this is very laudable, the counter argument is that it deprives Kenningtonians of places where they can go in the evening, such as restaurants or microbreweries, and will be closed by 6pm. We love a lively KV debate, so if you agree or think we are bonkers feel free to leave your comments below.
If you are curious or just bored the consultation is will be taking place again on Saturday, 23 Nov. from 10-4 at Kennington Park Community Centre in Harleyford Road. I’m sure the architect will be on hand to play Jenga if you fancy a twirl.
