The Lambeth-based AJ100 practice said its proposals for 202-208 Blackfriars Road would optimise the site’s capacity and ‘contribute positively to townscape quality’.
Last December, AHMM received fresh approval for a 15-storey student accommodation scheme above the tube station itself following the station’s Grade II listing.
EPR’s scheme, for developer Citygrove and aparthotel provider Staycity Group, involves demolishing ‘underutilised’ mid-rise office buildings on the plot.
EPR’s 85m-high replacement would include up to 300 hotel rooms along with more than 300m² of other uses, some of it at ground level and accessible to the public.
In planning documents, the practice said the development was ‘conceived as a vibrant, lifestyle-led destination, combining the comfort of home with the service of a hotel’ with ‘generous well-designed studios and suites’ which would be backed by shared spaces including a café and lounge open to the public.
The height and massing of the hotel have evolved through a detailed pre-application process with Southwark Council. The height of the proposed building now drops down to 17 storeys on each side in response to pre-ap feedback.
EPR said: ‘The final form has been refined to sit comfortably within the surrounding tall building cluster, with a clear stepping strategy that responds to adjacent buildings … This approach reduces perceived bulk, mediates between differing heights, and ensures an appropriate transition to neighbouring context.’
Planning documents describe a façade organised as ‘a consistent vertical rhythm and ordered window grid’ to create a ‘coherent and well-proportioned expression that reflects the scale of the surrounding townscape’.
Glazed terracotta, warm brick and bronze-effect detailing were selected for the elevations, while a full-height glazed feature entrance is designed to ‘create a clear and generous point of arrival on Blackfriars Road’.
A timeline for the hotel’s completion has yet to be set out.