London Hotel Towers Set for Approval

Hopkins Architects’ plans for a pair of hotel towers on the Albert Embankment in London, U.K., are set to be given the go ahead by Lambeth council next week,  Building Design reports. The proposals, designed for developer Ocubis, have been recommended for approval by the council’s planning officer and call for 26- and 29-story linked towers topping 90 m in height with nearly 900 hotel rooms. A controversial two-story roof extension containing office space would also be added to a neighboring 19th century former warehouse building called Vintage House. The hotel towers would be faced with an anodized aluminum curtain wall in different shades, rising from a largely glazed podium faced with vertical aluminum fins. The roof extension above Vintage House would feature a bronze-colored façade to differentiate it from the hotel buildings. The planning officer’s report said the latest application complies with local development policies and would not result in any harm to the significance of any designated or non-designated heritage assets, but it admitted there had been some “difference of opinion” with the Greater London Authority.