Blue Star House Brixton hotel & workspace building, 1960s South London architecture news

Blue Star House Brixton hotel & workspace, London

17 December 2025

Architecture: GRID architects

Location: Blue Star House, 234-244 Stockwell Road, South London, England, UK

GRID architects secure planning for retrofit mixed-use hotel and workspace development in Brixton

Blue Star House Brixton hotel & workspace in South London

GRID architects has secured a resolution to grant planning permission from Lambeth Council for the transformation of Blue Star House, a prominent but outdated commercial building opposite the O2 Academy in Brixton. The approved proposals will retrofit and extend the existing structure, saving embodied carbon equivalent to 1600 transatlantic flights. This will deliver a 341-room hotel alongside flexible workspace, creating a vibrant mixed-use destination in the heart of the town centre.

Derwent London acquired the site at the beginning of 2020 with initial plans for an office-led redevelopment in this prominent town centre location. However, the impact of COVID on working patterns meant that this original vision was no longer viable. Over the past two years, GRID Architects has worked closely with Derwent London, Project Manager Astir and the client team to reimagine the tired 1960s building and bring this under-utilised site back into productive use. Its location in the heart of Brixton, directly adjacent to the world-famous O2 Academy, made hotel use an obvious and compelling choice.

The redevelopment of Blue Star House will transform the outdated commercial block into a highly sustainable hotel alongside flexible office workspace in the heart of Brixton. The scheme will deliver a 341-room hotel in a highly under-supplied area, generating over £13.6 million annually in visitor spending and directly supporting local businesses. More than 500 jobs will be created, with 25% targeted for Lambeth residents alongside a number of apprenticeships. Discounted affordable workspace memberships will also be provided for local businesses, ensuring the benefits of the scheme are shared directly within the community.

The design of the ground floor has been a crucial aspect of the proposals in response to existing anti-social behaviour around the site.

Improved street frontages with extensive glazing and active ground floor uses create passive surveillance across all three surrounding streets. The development is fully car-free, improving the pedestrian-focused character of Stockwell Avenue.

A new double-height recon stone lobby extends from the base of the building between two large mature trees, forming the main hotel entrance on Stockwell Road, directly opposite the O2 Academy. The scheme introduces three new landscaped gardens, one of which provides accessible public realm and spill-out space for the hotel lobby café. Another provides amenity space for the workspace.

Alongside the retained structure, a new-build hotel wing connects back to the main building. This wing is set back from the street behind three mature trees within a new garden setting. It provides workspace at ground floor level to activate the surrounding streets, with hotel rooms above. The red brick form rises away from the street in three stepped levels, reflecting the scale of the adjacent office building and protecting the amenity of the dwellings opposite.

The proposals retain and retrofit the existing 11-storey structure by removing the original cladding and introducing a new aluminium rainscreen system, which is light enough to be supported by the existing concrete structure. By reusing the existing building frame, a significant amount of embodied carbon will be saved. An additional five storeys will be added above in a lightweight steel structure, with the new cladding extending up to a roof-level hotel amenity space.

The original ‘slab-block’ form of the building presented a challenge in creating an elegant and pleasing architectural composition. The façades are clad in red rainscreen to reflect the red brick that characterises taller buildings within Brixton. The massing is split vertically to create two vertical forms. The taller element is wrapped in a cream-coloured ‘veil’ – an expressed projecting frame that generates a more refined and elegant profile.

Ultimately, the project radically transforms an underutilised office building into a vibrant mixed-use hotel development, delivering valuable employment space and 341 hotel rooms to support and strengthen Brixton’s visitor economy.
Colin Veitch, Director at GRID architects, added:

“We’re thrilled to see this vision for Blue Star House move forward. Our aim has been to reimagine an underused 1960s structure and unlock its potential through a carefully considered retrofit. By retaining the existing frame and introducing new hotel and workspace uses, we’re able to respond directly to Brixton’s needs – supporting local employment, strengthening the visitor economy, and creating welcoming public spaces that feel connected to the neighbourhood. It’s been a privilege to work with Derwent London, Astir and the wider team on a scheme that puts sustainability, community benefit, and design ambition at its core.”

Blue Star House Brixton hotel & workspace in South London – Building Information

Project data

Project name: Blue Star House
Project address: Blue Star House, 234-244 Stockwell Rd, London SW9 9SP
Client: Derwent London
Project Manager: Astir
Architect: GRID architects

Local Authority: Lambeth Council
Planning committee: Tuesday 9th December 2026
Sector: Hotel use with workspace
Rooms: 341 hotel rooms
Flexible workspace: 631m2
No. of storeys: Two blocks – 16 storeys and 9 storeys

Planning Consultant: DP9
Structures: IESIS
MEP: Buro Happold
Landscape: GRID architects
Quantity Surveyors: Cast
Daylight: Point2
Communications: Concilio

GRID architects

GRID architects is an award-winning practice of architects, urban designers and interior designers formed in 2010. Based in London’s cultural Bankside, the 60 strong practice undertakes projects across the UK and overseas with a particular focus on the living sectors.

Website: www.gridarchitects.co.uk
LinkedIn: GRID Architects
Instagram: @grid_architects
Instagram: @gridinteriors_

Brixton Windmill Education & Community Centre in Lambeth, South London images / information received 150920 from GRID architects

Location: Blue Star House, 234-244 Stockwell Rd, London SW9 9SP, England, UK