25–33 Parkhouse Street

HTA’s architectural approach balances strong urban design principles with refined responses to the site’s sensitive context and industrial heritage. The design creates a bold yet carefully modelled form that mediates between Parkhouse Street and the open landscape of Burgess Park. Its C-shaped layout frames a central courtyard and unlocks permeability through the site via a new green link.

The scheme introduces 109 homes and over 1,300sqm of commercial workspace, accommodating creative businesses in line with Southwark’s vision for the area. Homes are split across three blocks, with varied heights and articulated massing that reduce visual impact at key edges. 84% of dwellings are dual aspect, and 35% are affordable, including family-sized and wheelchair-accessible homes.

Materially, the buildings reflect local character through a robust, gridded language and a simplified palette of brick and aluminium cladding. Setbacks and variation in tone help break down the scale, while rooflines and façades are animated by balconies and planting. At ground level, workspace frontages activate the street and help embed the development in a new mixed-use neighbourhood emerging along Parkhouse Street.

The design team worked collaboratively to embed sustainable strategies from the earliest stages. A key achievement of the project is the significant reduction in operational carbon, with the development targeting an 83% cut in emissions relative to Building Regulations Part L1A (2013). This was achieved through a combination of thermally efficient fabric, air source heat pumps, MVHR systems and integrated photovoltaic panels.

Green infrastructure plays a central role. The project includes a mix of extensive and intensive green roofs, alongside a generous landscape strategy that incorporates tree planting, play areas and a new publicly accessible pedestrian route from Parkhouse Street to Burgess Park. This contributes to a measurable uplift in biodiversity and supports the borough’s wider environmental goals.

The commercial space, designed for flexibility and longevity, contributes to the long-term social and environmental sustainability of the neighbourhood. By collocating homes and workspaces, and enhancing active travel routes through the site, the scheme promotes compact, low-carbon urban living.

HTA Planning led the negotiation of this complex and ambitious mixed-use scheme for Joseph Homes, now being delivered by Southern Housing. The site had been earmarked for redevelopment in Southwark’s Local Plan, but the overarching allocation lacked a clear vision for scale or townscape character, especially at its sensitive park-side edge.

We worked closely with the Council to define and justify an appropriate landmark form, drawing on adjacent development precedents to support a bold, 11-storey massing. Central to our strategy was the inclusion of significant public benefits, including a new pedestrian route connecting Parkhouse Street to Burgess Park. This green link supports wider aspirations for the Camberwell Creative Quarter and responds directly to the borough’s draft Local Development Study.

The site’s proximity to the park (a designated SINC) and local heritage assets required detailed design coordination and sustained community engagement. HTA led on public consultation throughout, and continued to support the scheme following planning approval, advising on conditions and supporting its transition to a fully affordable housing scheme under new ownership.