Vauxhall Cross Island is a proposed £600m ($648m) mixed-use development in London, UK.
The scheme will include the development of a hotel, offices, new retail and residential establishments, and improvements to the public realm of Vauxhall.
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The project will meet Lambeth Council’s vision for a district centre in Vauxhall as per the Vauxhall Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and Lambeth Local Plan. It will also integrate commercial spaces with a new public square and accommodate Transport for London’s (TfL) plans for an emerging gyratory and bus station.
VCI Property Holding is the site owner and developer of the project, which received planning permission in April 2020. Lambeth Council approved the project in December 2018.
The developers of the mixed-use project will work in coordination with TfL to construct the new district centre and convert Vauxhall’s gyratory system into a two-way street. The project will create approximately 2,000 potential jobs in the area, including 1,450 office jobs, 500 hotel jobs and an additional 50 jobs for retail and building management.
Vauxhall Cross Island location
The project site is adjacent to the Vauxhall Underground station within the London Borough of Lambeth in South London, UK. It is situated within the Vauxhall / Nine Elms / Battersea Opportunity Area and is surrounded by Bondway, Parry Street and Wandsworth Road / Albert Embankment.
The Island is situated in a prime location and is well connected to existing transport links at the gateway to Vauxhall from the north.
Details of Vauxhall Cross Island
The Vauxhall Cross Island will span across 1.4 million square feet, comprising two tall buildings and a low-level ten-storey connecting podium building forming a defined public square.
The 185m-tall southern tower will have 53 storeys, featuring a 619-room hotel and office space, while the 151m-tall tower in the northern side with 42 storeys will house 257 apartments, including 23 homes in the affordable housing category.
The podium building connecting the two main buildings will allow the development of more defined street edges to the north, south and west of the site.
The development will create 19,695m² of office space and 687m² of flexible ground floor retail spaces. Other amenities will include 29 blue badge parking areas for persons with disabilities, 704 spaces in the basement for bicycle parking, and a public square.
A dedicated children’s play area of 93.5m² will be created on the ninth floor of the northern tower, beside the communal amenity space spanning across 127m².
Vauxhall Cross Island design
The rectilinear form, grid-based façade and materials used for the towers will complement the emerging cluster of tall structures planned to be built to the south of the project site.
The taller tower will be located to the southern end of the site, near the other tall buildings and the centre of the cluster, while the shorter northern tower will represent the northern gateway to Vauxhall.
The structures will feature scalloped sections of the building corners, which does not allow for placing columns in the façade near the corners. The scalloped corners will be hung using trusses in the plant room floors for a more sophisticated appearance. The trusses will improve the value of the corner rooms by ensuring the spaces remain clear, without the need for thickening the floor slabs, thus avoiding a reduction in the ceiling heights.
The precast concrete for the façade will include polished light grey cement with a smooth finish and exposed fine grey aggregate and sandblasted light grey cement with a textured finish and exposed grey aggregate concrete. Grey anodised aluminium framing and shading fins will be used for metalwork, while clear glass will be used for the glasswork of the façade.
Features and amenities of Vauxhall Cross Island
The transformation of the Vauxhall gyratory system into a two-way street will accommodate pedestrians and cyclists. It will include the demolition of the existing bus station to make way for the new development.
Apart from retail space, the new public square will include resting zones and water elements facing the square. A green buffer will be created and trees will be planted along the southwest corner, while new trees will offer protection to retail units on the south-west corner.
The public square will also provide spacious areas adjacent to the primary pedestrian route from Vauxhall Station to the Opportunity Area to the south and near TfL’s new bus stops on Bondway.
The square is also proposed to host community events and activities for the public.
Contractors involved
Zaha Hadid Architects is the architect for the project, while Great Marlborough Estates is the development manager.
Dais was contracted to serve as the development consultant. Buro Happold is responsible for providing structural engineering services, waste management, acoustics, sustainability, building services engineering, façade engineering, environmental consultancy, fire engineering, and inclusive design.
Townshend Landscape is the landscape architect, while Slashcube provided architectural visualisation services.
