Lambeth Council has approved the £2 billion Vauxhall Square development on a narrow 4-3 vote. The scheme includes seven buildings, the tallest reaching 69 storeys, with 1,097 flats, 1,164 co-living units, and student accommodation for 699 people. Affordable housing was reduced from 35% to 25%, which was one reason three councillors voted against approval.
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Approved on a 4-3 vote with carbon numbers this bad. If the GLA target is 350 kg CO2/m2 and this runs around 630, the condition to run a whole life carbon assessment before each phase is basically admitting the design misses the plan. Worth watching whether the assessment actually changes anything.
Buildings like this lock in high operating emissions for 60 years. If they average 630 kg CO2/m2 against a 350 target, the issue is not just concrete and steel, it is future heating and cooling loads. A carbon assessment before each phase is useful, but only if someone can reject the phase when the numbers come back bad.
The affordable housing cut from 35% to 25% got the attention, but the carbon condition is the more interesting part. Lambeth is using planning conditions to force whole life carbon assessments phase by phase. That could set a precedent for other large schemes. The question is whether the council has the staff and the will to enforce it.
No mention of energy supply or grid connection in the summary. A site this size with co-living and student blocks will need serious electrical capacity, especially if heat pumps are part of the mix. The carbon assessment should include the grid side, not just the building envelope, or the operational numbers will be optimistic.
