Developers Avanton and Urban & Provincial have received the green light from Southwark Council for the £130 million (GDV) redevelopment of a former Carpetright warehouse, located at 651 Old Kent Road, to be transformed into new homes, of which 40% will be affordable housing.

To be developed in a partnership by Avanton and Urban & Provincial, the Carpetright scheme will deliver 262 homes, including 170 for private sale, and 20,000 sq. ft. of commercial space on the ground floor of the buildings, designed around with three large outdoor spaces.

Designed by Farrells, the homes will be located in two towers, reaching ten and 19 storeys high, with the design focusing on creating an ambient community and landscaped spaces for residents to enjoy. A significant proportion of the homes will be three- and four-bedroom homes, to meet the local housing need.

The scheme is the third element of Avanton’s regeneration masterplan for the area, designed to deliver over 2,100 homes with a total project GDV of £795 million, making Avanton the biggest developer along Old Kent Road.

The Carpetright scheme is designed around a large community park which connects to the adjacent Ruby Triangle site (also to be developed by Avanton), with many homes having private balconies and access to residents’ roof gardens. Since COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were put into place, Savills has reported a significant rise in enquiries for homes with gardens, with buyers wanting access to meaningful outside space, a trend that they forecast will continue.

Omer Weinberger, Chief Executive of Avanton says: “Avanton is committed to our extensive regeneration plans on Old Kent Road, with a trio of important sites that will bring new homes, amenities and public space to the area. We are delighted that Southwark Council has approved our plans for the redevelopment of the former Carpetright site into a new £130 million scheme. The design focuses on creating a sense of community and providing extensive outdoor space for residents to enjoy, which is proving more than ever to be a key priority for buyers. Old Kent Road is an excellent location that is truly accessible to many Londoners with most units qualifying for the government Help to Buy scheme, which makes the units attractive both to owner occupiers and long-term investors.”

Luke Osborne, Director of Urban & Provincial says: “Old Kent Road is undergoing an exciting £10.7 billion regeneration with new homes, and workspace for up to 10,000 new jobs, commercial, retail and leisure facilities. The former Carpetright warehouse, which is circa 25,000 sq. ft. in size, is currently vacant, which will allow construction to start without delay. Works are planned to begin in early 2021 with completion in Q4 2022. The development of the scheme will create 120 jobs, to be prioritised for residents of the borough. The location is equidistant to Central London like other locations such as Clapham, Islington and Pimlico”.

The developers intend to partner with an affordable housing provider and start development as soon as early next year.