Article & Image credit : skyscrapernews.com Sign up for our free weekly newsletter view the application at www.wandsworth.gov.uk/planning Council Says No To "Alien Towers"

Located on Upper Richmond Road in London's SW15, the mixed-use scheme at Tileman House will replace a 1960s mid-rise office block, one of many that currently blight the area.

UPDATE: Cllr Leslie McDonnell, Chairman of the Planning Applications Committee has informed us that: " the Tileman House development has now been reduced through consultation and negotiation so that the three elements proposed are now 12 storeys, 15 storeys and 8 storeys in height (east to west.) The application has yet to be submitted but is likely to be so within the next fortnight. Formal consultation will follow, but NOT over the Christmas/New Year period. " 12/08

The original proposal was: standing at a maximum of sixteen floors tall, the proposals are split vertically into three sections above ground floor retail that will restore the traditional street-line obliterated by the 1960s redevelopment with the neighbouring buildings finally visually connected again.

Within there will be 2,322 square metres of office and retail on the lower floors with 106 apartments on the upper floors. Of particular note is the projection glass sections of the two taller parts of the development that will overhang the pavement and contain miniature winter gardens for the occupants of the flats to enjoy.

On the north front glazing is heavily used with sliding wooden blinds functioning as a proxy façade and planned to stand behind the transparent glass should the residents require some privacy.

Contrasting with this glazed frontage is the solid slate used on the west and eastern walls with narrow vertical windows set in them like balistrarias or arrow slits. Rising above the roof level these walls then enclose the west and east boundaries of the roof gardens leaving the northern side open with a glass balcony so residents can appreciate the views.

Along with Putney Place these aren't the only tall buildings planned along Upper Richmond Road - the Hanley Group is currently working on a 21 floor residential proposal that will stand opposite Putney Place on 77-83 Upper Richmond Road and replace yet another sixties office block.

Given the amount of redundant office buildings here, poor urban planning, opportunities for regeneration, close proximity to an underground station and demand for residential space, these are unlikely to be the last proposals for this stretch of Upper Richmond Road.

December 12, 2008