Permission granted for third extension at Holiday Inn Express Southwark
Studio Moren has won planning permission for a seven-storey extension to the Holiday Inn Express Southwark. The extension will be the third undertaken at the property by Studio Moren and will add accommodation for hotel guests and create an additional F&B offering. The project will add a further 35 rooms to the hotel, 11 more than the initial feasibility study indicated was possible, taking the room count to 184.
Studio Moren previously extended the site in 2011 and 2015, the former prior to the London 2012 Paralympics, with the intention of innovating in accessible and inclusive design. In addition, the group introduced a number of systems to reduce the building’s carbon footprint, including a rainwater harvesting system and irrigation to the green/living wall on the rear external elevation.
The new extension has been designed to achieve BREEAM Excellent rating, through the use of solar panels, an extensive green roof and ground-level planters, which will also serve to enhance the hotel’s surroundings. The design completes the urban block, creating a homogeneous building.
Studio Moren has set the sixth floor back with a contemporary dark grey tiled mansard to respond to the neighbouring period building, soften the corner and acknowledge the rear sites location as secondary to Southwark Street.
It has also extended the grid pattern across the fourth side of the central courtyard, over the car park entry, completing the urban block to create a more visually pleasing aesthetic.
The elevation that wraps the corner between Bear Lane and Prices Street features a distinct, curved façade above a two-storey glazed plinth, and has been carefully designed to sympathetically join with the period, brick warehouse elevation of the existing hotel wing along Price’s Street.