Chipperfield Wins Elizabeth House Scheme

David Chipperfield has beaten off competition to win a commission to design the replacement for Elizabeth House in London.

The key site next to Waterloo Station had previously been the location of plans by Allies and Morrisons for a troika of towers dubbed "the ugly sisters" but these failed to secure planning permission in the end thanks to their stark and functional design not to mention the wall-like massing that would appear behind Big Ben when viewed from certain angles.

With London & Regional having to return to the drawing board and scale down the plans, they invited designs from Chipperfield, Grimshaw Architects, and Hopkins Architects, three fairly safe pairs hands with a good reputation.

Speculation on the scheme is however pointless as it has yet to publicly surface, but if the past is anything to go by it will be a concept rather than a detailed design that will have been invited from each of the three entrants with the winner then having to work up their scheme into something solid.

Elizabeth House and the adjacent Tower Building have long proven something of a thorn in the side for the area by cutting off the northern side of Waterloo Station, and reducing the public permeability towards the South Bank of the River Thames to a couple of dingy walkways.

With such a challenging site that has to have the scheme relate to both York Road and Waterloo Station, it should be interesting to see just what Chipperfield has come up with.

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