Big Plans With Clapham Junction Towers

Big Plans With Clapham Junction Towers

Delancey and Land Securities are planning a massive overhaul of land next to one of Europe's largest and yet least commercially exploited railway stations, Clapham Junction.

The scheme will be three towers sat on a large podium with Clapham Junction bounding the triangular site to the north, Falcon Road to the east and St John's Hill to the south.

The project has been designed by architect firm, ColladoCollins, who have planned the first few floors of the scheme be a huge shopping mall offering 25,000 square metres of retail space, a total considered enough to make it a draw in its own right for shoppers, something Parkview have been insisting is the case for years with their plans for Battersea Power Station.

A new section of the station is to be rebuilt on the northern part of the site directly bordering the train lines whilst a bus drop off is also planned that will have the capacity of handling 60 buses every single hour.

Topping this podium off are the three residential towers reaching as high as 29 floors that will contain 450 new apartments - the tallest of these should come in at a bit under 100 metres.

Stepping up in height from west to east, each tower will have two curving wings connected by a central core. The roof spaces of the development will be used as a new public space opening up what is currently an urban and heavily built site.

Given the vast amounts of traffic going through Clapham Junction every day, some 2000 trains, plus the fact it handles more passengers than any other train station in Europe, it is mystifying that this has never been commercially exploited, particularly when every other major station in London has.

This perhaps has had more to do with the location and the perception that Battersea is a residential area whilst if you want shopping you go to the West End for example. Indeed, when originally built Battersea was simply an unglamourous suburb of Victorian London and the station used as a plain interchange and junction for those heading to the home counties rather than the increasingly important transport hub it is today.

The developers plans however show that the commercial realities that have long been working north of the Thames are now starting to spread further south into London.

The scheme is now under pre-planning consultation between relevant parties including Network Rail and the local Wandsworth council before it goes any further. It's a case of watch this space.

makeup mirror
starter