In December 2019, LB Lambeth resolved to grant planning consent for Pilbrow & Partners’ mixed-use regeneration masterplan prepared on behalf of U+I and The London Fire Brigade. The scheme restores the Grade II listed 1937 London Fire Brigade Headquarters as the centrepiece of the new urban quarter.

The masterplan demonstrates P & P’s ability to creatively synthesise diverse opportunities and constraints to deliver a holistic, convincing and viable urban design strategy.

The site, set across three urban blocks behind the former Fire Brigade Headquarters building, is partially located within a Conservation Area and partially within a key industrial zone.

Set within the backdrop of protected LVMF views to the Palace of Westminster, a number of buildings on and adjacent to the site are listed, with a proportion of the neighbouring buildings programmed for residential use.

Previous proposals by LDS Architects on behalf of Native Land delivered 45,000m2 of accommodation but were rejected by Lambeth and the GLA. Our proposals, submitted in December 2019, delivered 72,000m2 of accommodation.

The DNA of the masterplan celebrates our passion for mixed-use space. At its heart, the scheme delivers a modernised Fire Station and the new London Fire Brigade Museum set on the ground floor of the Grade II listed 8 Albert Embankment building.

Above, residential accommodation faces the river with a new hotel wing facing Lambeth High Street to its rear. The hotel provides access to a two-storey restaurant with a glazed roof extension that provides commanding views across the Thames to the Palace of Westminster.

Three new public spaces form the centrepiece of a network of new routes across the site. South Square, on Black Prince Road forms a gateway to the new urban quarter set between the entrance to the London Fire Brigade Museum and the adjacent Grade II listed Royal Doulton Factory.

Centre Square on Lambeth High Street is conceived as the overall focal point of the quarter, framed between new and historic buildings with a slender residential tall building marking routes towards the public space.

The form of this building and its adjacent eastern neighbour were refined, through P & P’s in-house environmental modelling capabilities, to ensure that residential amenity on Whitgift Street were not unacceptably impacted by the proposals.