Tall & Urban News

Plans to transform Kingston's iconic tallest building have been thrown out for a second time after an appeal from the developer was rejected. The application for the Tolworth Tower site was first turned down by Kingston Council in May 2021. The plans would have seen the currently vacant 22-story office building turned into 261 apartments and two more tower blocks built on the landmark site, with up to 499 new homes built in total.

One of the new towers would have been up to 19 stories while the other tower would have been up to 15 stories, creating 238 more homes in total. 

The application originally proposed no affordable housing, but the appeal proposal included 50 affordable homes. The first-floor parking lot in the existing tower would have been converted into a flexible workspace unit. The office space in the 1960s tower has been empty since the end of March 2019.

Two previous schemes for the site were granted resolutions for approval by Kingston Council in 2016 and 2019, but necessary agreements for both applications have not been signed and decisions for each proposal have not been given, according to the planning inspector's report. 

For more on this story, go to MSN.