ADDRESS: St Thomas House and Dunhill Fitness Centre, Lambeth Palace Road, SE1 Pre-application Development Presentation Case Officer: Jeffrey Holt Ward: Bishop’s Date Received: September 2020 Proposal: Demolition of existing buildings and erection of building approximately 31,000 sqm in area and 55m AOD in height to provide an expansion to the existing Evelina London children’s hospital (Use Class C2) along with associated access and public realm. Applicant: Guy’s and St Thomas’ Trust Agent: Montague Evans RECOMMENDATION 1. That, having heard a Pre-application Development Presentation on behalf of the applicant and individual Members of the Committee having had the opportunity to ask questions and to highlight to the applicant issues that may require further consideration, the contents of this report, the Presentation and any discussion of the item in the meeting be duly noted by the Committee. SITE DESIGNATIONS Relevant site designations: Central Activities Zone Conservation Area - CA57 : Albert Embankment Conservation Area North Lambeth Archaeological Priority Area Listed Building - Multiple Southbank And Waterloo (SOWN) Neighbourhood Area and Forum London Plan Waterloo Opportunity Area Transport for London Road Network Thames Policy Area LVMF Protected Vistas - Primrose Hill Summit To The Palace Of Westminster - 4A.2 LVMF River Prospect: Westminster Bridge 18A Environment Agency Flood Zone 3 Adjacent to: Archbishop’s Park Site of Local Nature Conservation Importance (SINC) Archbishop’s Park Local Space of Heritage Value Archbishop’s Park Historic Park or Garden Lambeth Palace Gardens Site of Borough Nature Conservation Importance Lambeth Palace Conservation Area LAND USE DETAILS Site area (ha): 0.2ha NON-RESIDENTIAL DETAILS Use Class Use Description Floorspace (m2) (Gross Internal Area) Existing D1 Medical training facility 924m2 D1 Gym 2,793 m2 Proposed C2 Hospital 28,000 – 30,000 m2 NON-CONVENTIONAL RESIDENTIAL & VISITOR ACCOMMODATION Bedrooms/Units Floorspace (m2) Existing Hotel Bedrooms Serviced Apartments/Apart-hotel units Proposed Hotel Bedrooms Serviced Apartments/Apart-hotel units Bedrooms Floorspace (m2) Existing Student Accommodation Proposed Student Accommodation Bedrooms Floorspace (m2) Existing C2 212 (in existing Evelina) Proposed C2 Additional 100+ 28,000-30,000 Bedrooms Floorspace (m2) Existing SG Hostel Proposed SG Hostel PARKING DETAILS Car Parking Spaces Car Parking Spaces % of Bike Motor- (General) (Disabled) EVCP Spaces cycle Spaces Drop off Staff Drop off Staff Existing 3 0 0 8 TBC TBC - Proposed 5 0 0 2 TBC TBC - LEGAL SERVICES CLEARANCE AUDIT TRAIL Consultation Name/Position Lambeth Date Sent Date Report Comments in department Received Cleared para: Susan Boucher, Legal Services 04.01.2020 05.01.2020 05.01.2020 Throughout Lawyer OFFICER REPORT Reason for referral to PAC: This item is a Pre-application Development Presentation in accordance with the Planning Applications Committee’s terms of reference. NOTE: A Pre-application Development Presentation is a presentation to the Committee by an applicant about a development proposal that has not yet been submitted for planning approval. The Committee’s terms of reference provide for the Committee to hear such presentations about strategic development schemes and for individual Members of the Committee to ask questions and highlight issues that may require further consideration by the applicant. Any pre-application proposal that is presented to the Committee will still require a planning application to be submitted and determined in due course. The Committee will not be making any determination of the planning merits of any matters that are presented to it in this Pre-application Development Presentation and accompanying officer report. Observations of the Committee in response to this item may be minuted but will not be binding on the eventual decision-maker. The purpose of this officer report is to provide a brief overview of the site and its planning history, the current development proposal, the pre-application process to date and relevant planning policies. 1 THE APPLICATION SITE 1.1 The site is on the west side of Lambeth Palace Road and is within the St Thomas’ Hospital campus. The triangular site currently contains St Thomas’ House, which is a six-storey 1920s building, and the Dunhill Fitness centre, which is a two-storey post-war building. St Thomas’ House is used for clinical skills training and the Dunhill Fitness centre is a gym for staff and students at the hospital and university. 1.2 The site is immediately adjacent to the Evelina London Children’s Hospital which is withing a purpose- built seven to eight storey building with a large curved glass roof. The building was completed in 2005 and the Evelina moved there from their original site at Guy’s Hospital in Southwark. Access to the Evelina is via a short access street known as Hospital Street, which is off Lambeth Palace Road. 1.3 The site is in the Albert Embankment conservation area. Neither St Thomas House or the Dunhill Fitness centre are statutorily or locally listed. The applicant has applied to Historic England for a Certificate of Immunity from Listing for St Thomas House and the decision is pending. 2 THE SURROUNDING AREA 2.1 St Thomas Hospital first opened in 1871 and has expanded organically over time resulting in a large complex of buildings of varying ages and styles. The original five storey 19th century hospital building occupies the south-west corner of the campus. The northern half is occupied by large post-war modernist blocks between six and 12 storeys high and in the south-east corner are the most recent additions including the seven storey Evelina Children’s Hospital building completed in 2004. The main vehicle access to the hospital, including A&E ambulance access, is off Lambeth Palace Road. 2.2 The surrounding area is mixed in use and urban form, as is characteristic of central London. To the north is the main block of the former County Hall. Country Hall is a Grade II* Listed complex of six to seven storey buildings that was once home to the London Country Council. It is now used for leisure, hotel, residential and commercial uses. The rear blocks are Locally Listed and are in residential and commercial use. 2.3 To the north-east are contemporary buildings up to 18 storeys high in hotel, student accommodation and office use. Further north-east is Waterloo train and Underground station. To the east are smaller post-war housing blocks and some low rise commercial and community buildings. To the south-east is Archbishop’s Park and the private gardens of Lambeth Palace. Archbishop’s Park is a local space of heritage value and Lambeth Palace Garden is a Registered Historic Garden (Grade II). The new eight storey Lambeth Palace Library is nearing completion. 2.4 To the south beyond the gardens is the Grade I listed Lambeth Palace. It consists of a group of ecclesiastical, ceremonial, defensive and residential buildings of varying periods dating back as early as 1435. To the west is the River Thames and on the opposite bank is the Grade I Listed Palace of Westminster and Westminster World Heritage Site. 2.5 St Thomas Hospital is within the Albert Embankment Conservation Area and the Southbank Conservation Area is to the north. The hospital campus has a number of listed buildings and structures: Statue of Robert Clayton at the northern entrance to the ward block of North Wing (Grade I) Bronze Statue of Edward V at the northern entrance to the ward block of the North Wing (Grade II*) Stone Statue of Edward VI at the northern entrance to the ward block of the North Wing (Grade II*) ‘Revolving Torsion’ fountain (Grade II*) 15 public benches on the embankment footpath between Lambeth Bridge and Westminster Bridge (Grade II) River Wall with 36 lamp standards between Lambeth Bridge and Westminster Bridge (Grade II) Albert Embankment Wall along boundary of St Thomas’ Hospital (Grade II) 2.6 The site is also in the Central Activities Zone, Flood Risk Zone 3, Thames Policy Area, the Waterloo Opportunity Area and the South Bank and Waterloo Neighbourhood Area. 2.7 The site benefits from a public accessibility level of 6b, which is ‘excellent’, due to the proximity of Waterloo train and Underground station, Lambeth North Underground Station to the east and Westminster Underground to the west across Westminster Bridge. There are also numerous bus services nearby. Westminster Bridge Road and Lambeth Palace Road are both part of the TfL Strategic Road Network. 3 SITE PHOTOGRAPHS Figure 1 - Aerial photograph of site (outlined in blue) Figure 2 - Photograph showing entrance to Hospital Street, St Thomas House and Evelina London (behind) Figure 3 - Dunhill Fitness Centre (foreground), St Thomas House (background) and Evelina London (right) 4 PROPOSAL 4.1 Summary of the Proposal 4.2 The proposal is for the demolition of St Thomas’ House and the Dunhill Fitness Centre and the construction of a new building to provide additional capacity for Evelina London. The building would reach a height of around 59m AOD and provide approximately 31,000 sqm of space. This would accommodate over 100 inpatient beds, 20 critical care beds and 14 operating theatres as well as space for outpatients, research, staff, families and support functions. 4.3 The existing Evelina building would remain and be connected to the new building. The training facilities within St Thomas’ house will be moved into new facilities that are currently under construction elsewhere on the hospital campus. The fitness centre would not be replaced as it is underutilised and considered to be surplus to requirements. 4.4 The applicant will provide a detailed presentation of the proposal. 5 Planning Performance Agreement 5.1 Guy’s and St Thomas’ Trust has entered into a Planning Performance Agreement with the Council. The PPA secures an enhanced pre-application process with a greater level of engagement.