Endurance Land and Angelo Gordon gain approval for Southwark hotel scheme

Endurance Land and Angelo Gordon’s revised plans for a new 169-bedroom hotel in Southwark have been approved by Southwark Council. The new eight-storey hotel will be built on the site of the existing car park to the rear of the office building at 160 Blackfriars Road, SE1. A new publicly accessible courtyard, to be known as Friars Yard (pictured), will also be created and improvements made to the office building, including a new reception and enlarged roof terrace. In addition, more than 2,000 sq ft of affordable workspace will be provided. Work is anticipated to start on the scheme this year. Endurance Land and Angelo Gordon revised the plans and submitted a new planning application in February after the planning inspector dismissed an appeal over earlier proposals for a 10-storey, 220-bedroom hotel in October last year. The planning inspector dismissed the appeal owing to the proposed hotel’s impact on the character and appearance of the area outweighing its benefits. However, he did not back the council’s argument that the area was saturated with hotels. Jonathan Fletcher, chief executive and founder of Endurance Land, said: “Following an extensive consultation process with the planning officers, cabinet members and the local community, it gives us great pleasure to be able to announce this consent with our valued partners AG. “This is the second planning permission we have secured with them in two months following the consent at 1-5 London Wall Buildings in June. We will now be able to consider the wider strategy for the site.” DP9 acted as planning consultant, with EPR as lead architect. To send feedback, e-mail louise.dransfield@egi.co.uk or tweet @DransfieldL or @estatesgazette