Viability concerns squeeze scheme’s social and intermediate rent offering at Bermondsey Place
Southwark council has rejected a 1,060-home scheme after developer Berkeley Homes reduced the affordable housing offer in its revised plans.
The updated proposals for phase two and three of Bermondsey Place would have slashed the level of homes for social and intermediate rents from 40% to 12% to make the scheme viable. Councillors unanimously agreed that this does not meet the housing need of the borough.
Further changes to the PRP-designed plans for the Old Kent Road area also lowered the tallest of its eight blocks from 44 to 36 storeys.
The refusal came on 6 October, ahead of the Building the Future conference co-hosted by Housing Today, where Berkeley chair Rob Perrins claimed that “at local level, we’re getting 75% of our applications refused”.
He added: “When you have a viability challenge, you’ve got to make compromises. At the moment, no one’s willing to give up anything in priority terms.”
The first phase of Bermondsey Place is currently underway, delivering 285 homes with for 40% affordable housing behind Asda’s Old Kent Road store.
Work began in 2021 but stalled in 2022 due to rising costs before recommencing in 2025.
A hybrid planning application for 1,300 homes at Bermondsey Place was approved in 2020.
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