Apt has received planning consent for three towers on the edge of London’s Canary Wharf, which it says could become Europe’s largest Passivhaus development
Tower Hamlets Council’s strategic development committee approved the mixed-use scheme for student accommodation provider Urbanest.
The project, on a vacant 0.4-hectare site in Trafalgar Way, will include 1,672 student rooms, 80 apartments for University College London staff, commercial office and retail space, and indoor children’s play space.
All this will be housed in towers of 28, 35, and 44 stories, linked by a four-story podium. The two taller blocks will also be linked by a skybridge.
A new McDonald’s drive-through restaurant will replace one that occupied the site until its demolition in 2015. The site will also provide nearly 1,500 bicycle spaces.
The scheme is intended to achieve BREEAM Outstanding and Passivhaus certification.
An officer report to the council planning committee recommended approval of the scheme.
Apt project leader James Ewen said: “Our vision for 2 Trafalgar Way was to create a vertical campus, where living, studying and working successfully co-exist, serving to create an enriching environment which will extend into the ground-floor public realm and beyond.”
Construction is expected to begin early next year so that the project is ready to open in time for the 2025/26 academic year.
For more on this story, go to Architects’ Journal.