Samantha Mitchell
Samantha Mitchell is a local resident, an elected member of Bermondsey Street. London and Co-Chair of the local business group, the Tower Bridge Road Alliance.
New Year 2025 and there are lots of regeneration plans now starting to take shape in neighbourhoods across the whole of Southwark. West Bermondsey has attracted special attention owing to its billion pound upgrade of London Bridge Station – one of the busiest transport hubs in London – and its potential for ‘tall buildings’, providing new homes, mixed-use office space, and improved public amenities.
In this two-blog series on the neighbourhood that comprises London Bridge and West Bermondsey, we’ll first be taking a look at three of the main development sites currently underway: St Thomas Street East, the Bricklayers Arms Roundabout and The Low Line, as we start to see long awaited public consultation and plans for this much-loved neighbourhood burst into life.
St Thomas Street East Developments
St Thomas Street and its surrounding area is witnessing an exciting period of transformation. Combining the rich industrial heritage of the Grade II listed Bermondsey Street with modern urban living; the St Thomas Street East developments are part of a broader strategy to regenerate and deliver significant new infrastructure that will run from London Bridge along to Crucifix Lane and into The Low Line (see below).
The St Thomas Street regeneration is centred around four major buildings:
The Chapter is a mixed-use development located immediately opposite London Bridge Station. Linked to various student accommodation, the development has created a new focal point for Kings College University students living in the area, with modern facilities specifically designed for student tenants as well as a welcoming, open flexible space on the ground floor. Nearing completion, The Chapter stands at 39-stories tall with a garden terrace on the 37th floor. Target date for practical completion is August 2025.
By contrast to The Chapter, The Edge is a development that consists of office and retail spaces which will serve as a key addition to the area’s growing commercial offerings. It’s part of a broader trend of modern office spaces being built close to major transport hubs like London Bridge.
Standing at 27-stories, The Edge aims to be London’s greenest office tower, drawing inspiration from Bermondsey’s Victorian engineering heritage, and combining a façade that balances daylight with thermal efficiency.
Described as 275,000 sq ft of workspace for tomorrow, its facilities will include a gym, a publicly accessible coffee bar, and a ‘town hall’ space for local community use. Target date for completion is early 2026
Currently used as an innovative mixed-use site combining outdoor food and drink spaces, retail, and workspaces, the Vinegar Yard building is to become a purpose designed life sciences development as part of London’s Life Sciences District. With over 185,000 sq ft of space across 19-stories, it will accommodate NHS clinical or medical research uses, office space, and flexible retail space.
After some local wrangling, other conditions for the scheme have been added to include a highly permeable ground floor for the local community, and it retains the Fenning Street warehouse for use as another flexible event and community space. There will also be affordable workspace for Southwark Art Studios and life science start-ups, as well as over 2,000 sq ft of green space of a new urban garden and tree-lined boulevard on St. Thomas Street. Awaiting the start of construction.
Bermondsey Yards
Bermondsey Yards refers to a campus of commercial development along with upgraded public spaces. It includes a series of new buildings alongside older ones, preserving elements of Bermondsey Street’s industrial history.
Comprising of 170,000 sq ft, the development includes extensive roof garden terraces, smart tech throughout, and a highly walkable design to deliver modern retail and affordable workspace. It will also see refurbishment and extension of the historic 19th Century Vinegar Yard Warehouse, the demolition of 42-44 Bermondsey Street and the retention and extension of 40 Bermondsey Street to form two new buildings, achieving a tapered transition from the intimate character of Bermondsey Street to the contemporary scale of London Bridge and The Shard Quarter. Awaiting start of construction.
Other image renders and further information are available at the St Thomas Street East Developments website here: https://www.stthomassteast.co.uk/
The Bricklayers Arms
Hotly debated over recent months, the Bricklayers Arms gyratory, or Roundabout, located at the junction of the Old Kent Road and the A2 in South London, is also earmarked for significant regeneration. The Roundabout itself is a key traffic hub, and its redevelopment is part of the broader proposals for the Old Kent Road Area Plan over the next 10+ years.
The most prominent aspect of the proposals has been to repurpose and entirely reconfigure its use, by making it pedestrian friendly and re-routing traffic flow. The current design, typical of the 1960s roundabouts that were built around the car, often experiences significant congestion especially during peak hours. And, local residents have long argued that there should be improvements to green the area, making it more environmentally sustainable, as well as upgrading the connectivity for Tower Bridge Road to its surrounding neighborhoods. The already agreed Bakerloo Line extension, and its two Old Kent Road tube stations, super cycle and rapid bus routes, further providing better, alternative modes of public transport to cars.
Consultation for the Roundabout is ongoing, and, whilst there are, as of yet, no definitive plans for also removing the concrete, Brutalist Fly-over (a much longer-term endeavour), it’s clear that the Bricklayers Arms, and its adjoining ‘grot spots’ along the Tower Bridge Road are soon to receive a substantial make-over!
A useful link to the consultation website can be found here: https://oldkentroad.org.uk/bricklayersarms/
Finally, the Low Line.
Many of you may already be familiar with the concept of the High Line in New York which is a 1.45-mile elevated greenway built on a former Central Railroad. Similarly, by repurposing old railway infrastructure, the London ‘Low Line’ is a long stretch of previously defunct railway arches running from Bankside to London Bridge Station all the way along to the Peak Freans Biscuit Factory, and down towards Bermondsey, with the idea being to integrate green spaces, art installations and lighting to create a welcoming corridor for residents, tourists and other visitors.
The Low Line
Being part of the past industrial fabric of Bermondsey, which in the old days, was known as the ‘Food Larder of London’, the railway arches themselves have important historical significance, so part of this Low Line vision includes preserving the Victorian architecture when giving them a new lease of life. Many of the arches, for example, house studio workspaces for creative and cultural projects or local artisans and markets, such as the Maltby Street market, alongside thriving retail, bars and restaurants.
More recently, there is interest in developing what’s called the Low Line Commons, looking at how the Low Line can be sensitively unlocked to support more nature and wildlife, with transport consultants having already been commissioned to explore how it can provide comfortable and accessible routes for urban hiking along its entire length.
Lots more about the Low Line can be found here: https://lowline.london/map-contact/
With so much urban regeneration going on in the neighbourhood it can sometimes be hard to keep up. But doesn’t that just make for a more fascinating area to live, work and to call home!