Policy information sourced from the Southwark Local Plan 2022

P15 Residential Design

  • Development must achieve an exemplary standard of residential design.
  • All new build and conversions to residential development must take into consideration the site context, the impact on the amenity of adjoining occupiers, and the quality of accommodation as follows:
    • Provide a high standard of quality of accommodation for living conditions; and
    • Be tenure blind; and
    • Provide no material differences in appearance between affordable and market homes in apartment blocks; and
    • Provide the opportunity for residents of all tenures to access on site facilities; and
    • Avoid having more than eight dwellings accessed from a single core per floor; and
    • Provide acceptable levels of natural daylight by providing a window in every habitable room, except in loft space where a roof light may be acceptable; and
    • Achieve a floor to ceiling height of at least 2.5 metres for at least 75 per cent of the Gross Internal Area of each dwelling to maximise natural ventilation and natural daylight in the dwelling; and
    • Be predominantly dual aspect and allow for natural cross ventilation; and
    • In circumstances where due to site constraints it is impossible or impractical to provide dual aspect dwellings it must be demonstrated how overheating and ventilation will be mitigated. Single aspect dwellings will not be acceptable if they have three or more bedrooms, or are north facing or where the façade is exposed to high noise levels; and
    • Meet the minimum national space standards set out in Table 6, or where relevant the Aylesbury Action Area Core space standards set out in Table 7, providing adequate internal space for the intended number of occupants, including the provision of additional built in storage as set out in Table 7; and
    • Provide private amenity space, communal amenity space and facilities for all residents, and child play space on site using the GLA calculator. Child play space should be on ground or low level podiums with multiple egress points; and
    • Provide equal access to outdoor space for all residents regardless of tenure; and
    • In the Old Kent Road opportunity area, provide 5sqm of public open space per dwelling in addition to the communal amenity space requirement. New open space must be provided in the locations identified on the Old Kent Road Area Action Plan masterplan. Sites where a new open space is not identified must provide a financial contribution instead; and
    • Provide communal facilities including gardens and community rooms. Provide green communal amenity space for all residents and additional communal play areas for children (aged up to 16) for apartments. Communal amenity space should be designed to provide multiple benefits (e.g. recreation, food growing, habitat creation, SUDS) and should be additional to external communal amenity space; and
    • In circumstances where private and communal amenity space and facilities or child play space cannot be provided on site, this should be provided as private amenity space with the remaining amount added to the communal space requirement; and, we will seek a financial contribution towards providing new or improving existing public open space or play space provision in the vicinity of the site; and
    • Maximise the use of sustainable technologies and materials; and
    • Complete a Whole Life-cycle Carbon Assessment for Major Referrable schemes for existing buildings and identify where materials can be recycled and reused.

For more information please see the Southwark Local Plan 2022