Council to renew ‘Brixton Central’ advice contracts

Brixton Station Road
The entrance to a new workspace in Brixton Rec will be on Beehive Place opposite the Craft Beer Company

Lambeth council is preparing to spend nearly a quarter of a million pounds to continue to develop “regeneration activity” in central Brixton.

council report says it is “prioritising the delivery of this project as part of a corporate strategy” to secure recovery from the pandemic, greater local economic resilience and “wide ranging community benefits”.

The report does not mention the recent decision of the council’s planning committee to approve a major development on Pope’s Road and Brixton Station Road, including a 20-storey tower that council officers admitted is not in line with the 2015 Lambeth Local Plan that the new money will be spent pursuing.

The Lambeth Local Plan identifies Brixton as a major town centre “that should be protected and promoted through careful and sensitive regeneration”.

The report seeks an additional budget of £238,714 to fund advisors to support its “Brixton Central project” and recommends retaining two companies that have been working on this project since 2017: Avison Young for commercial property advice, and Trowers & Hamlins for legal services.

The first stage of the project included the conversion of International House from council offices to its current use as London’s largest affordable workspace.

Further stages would include development of the Pop Brixton site and an already planned transformation of the lower floors of Brixton Rec.