A “secret” row of mid-Victorian brick railway arches sealed off from the public for more than a 150 years are to be the centrepiece of a new £2.5 billion office, homes, hotel and cultural development on the South Bank.
New images of the 5.5 acre Bankside Yards scheme, one of the biggest currently underway in central London, released on Wednesday show how the 14 arches will be used to house shops, restaurants and performance spaces to create what the developers describe as “a new village high street.”
The arches were built in 1864 for the railway line running into the original Blackfriars Bridge station. It was closed to passengers in 1885 when the current Blackfriars station was built but remained in use as a goods depot until 1965 before demolition in 1968 left just the viaduct arches surviving.
The arches were used for parking and storage but have never been restored or opened to the public to allow pedestrian access between Bankside and South Bank as part of the “lowline” walk along the rail viaducts from Bermondsey to Bankside.
The first phase of the scheme, an office block called Arbor, is expected to be completed by the summer. Wednesday it was announced that its first occupier will be the City law firm Lewis Silkin, which is moving its London office from Chancery Lane.
The firm - which lists Sony Music, Google, Facebook, Arsenal FC, Snap and M&S among its clients - is taking 28,000 sq ft of office space on a 15 year lease on the sixth and seventh floors of the 19 storey building. It will be heated by high-tech air source heat pumps.
There is a large outdoor terrace on the 19th floor that could be used for yoga, outdoor cinema screenings and training sessions and a room for wellness activities such as meditation, as well as 330 cycle spaces.
Lewis Silkin’s joint managing partner Richard Miskella said the space “will provide us with the space and sustainable environment to reimagine the ways our teams work together in a post-pandemic world, whilst immersing us in a rich and diverse cultural setting enabling us to continue playing an active part in our local community.”
In total the development will eight buildings with 350,000 sq ft of office space, around 30 new bars, restaurants and shop, about 700 new homes and a 150 room hotel.
The scheme - a joint venture between developers Native Land, Malaysian investment company Amcorp Properties, Singapore hospitality company Hotel Properties and Singapore investor Temasek - was designed by architects PLP and Multiplex as the lead contractor. It will create around 3,200 jobs,
