Allies & Morrison has completed work on Vauxhall quarter, a mixed-use development in London.

The Keybridge development by Allies & Morrison delivers 598 new homes on a 1.19ha south London plot with a mix of typologies that nods to the area’s historic buildings, and its emerging high-rises.

The project, for clients Mount Anvil and BT Property, is situated on the site of British Telecom’s former Keybridge building at Vauxhall, which was home to the UK’s first digital telephone exchange.

Allies & Morrison won permission to replace the 1970s brutalist block by GW Mills & Associates with a residential-led scheme in 2014.

 

The new project in Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area includes shops, cafes, small business units, and new space for Wyvil Primary School. The project was completed by Keybridge, with new homes delivered in towers of 36, 22, and 18 storeys, as well as eight-storey mansion blocks with retail units at ground-floor level. A single four-storey block contains 10 townhouses.

The school extension is at the base of the 18-storey tower, opposite the main primary school. Allies & Morrison’s design repurposes an existing basement to create a new top-lit school hall for pupils.

The practice said it understood the site as a “hinge” between diverse conditions, such as emerging high-rise buildings to the north, the elevated tracks of the main line to Waterloo Station, Vauxhall Park, a red-brick terrace of shops, St Anne and All Saints Church, and a large builders’ yard.

Keybridge provided an example of how to bring together different types of housing to work well with current and future surroundings.

Alfredo Caraballo stated that the design of Keybridge had been inspired by various sources, including historic terraces, warehouses and updates of the presidential mansion. By doing this, the project was able to deliver an unusually rich group of building types.

He went on to say that “Keybridge is a pivotal scheme in our practice’s continuous exploration of high-density housing and the positive role it can play in city making. The project is conceived as a typological ensemble acknowledging the very different context conditions around it with a mix of tall buildings, mansion blocks and low-rise blocks.

Keybridge's picturesque diversity in terms of typologies uses, and form produces not only a textured and interesting new piece of the city but ultimately a great place to live. With places to work, eat and drink, and learn, this development has something for everyone. Plus, the integration of a new primary school means that families can move here with peace of mind, knowing that their children will have access to a good education.