Green light for Vinci’s 26-storey Nine Elms tower

A joint venture between Vinci UK Developments and St Modwen has got the planning thumbs up for a 26-storey residential tower in Nine Elms, London.The scheme, known as Apex 1, will deliver 201 new homes as well as 5,250 sq ft of retail space on land released as a result of VSM’s New Covent Garden Market redevelopment.This zone 1 site is adjacent to the Nine Elms Northern Line tube station and close to the new US Embassy, forming a key part of the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea opportunity zone.Designed by Glenn Howells Architects, Apex 1 is the first building of the wider Apex development site which has outline consent for a further 422 homes and 66,000 sq ft of commercial space.The building is designed to maximise a triangular siteApex 1 will be a highly sustainable, near net zero development. It incorporates an architecturally distinctive two-storey pavilion to house ground floor retail and a first-floor amenity area for residents, as well as a roof garden.The Apex site is one of four surplus land sites, which form part of the ongoing transformation of New Covent Garden Market by the VSM partnership.The overall redevelopment of New Covent Garden Market will provide for a rationalisation and transformation of the market site and will create a vibrant and distinctive new London District once complete.