Consultation

The scheme will be fully financed by a mixed-use development, which will generate the funding necessary to deliver the construction of the school, as well as the new community facilitates and all the other associated costs in bringing the scheme forward for development.

Given the constraints of the site, we do not currently think it is feasible or safe for the school to operate on site during construction works. Therefore, a site will be identified to relocate the school temporarily whilst the new school and site is built. We are currently undertaking work to review a range of options against the school’s needs, and conversations are ongoing with Lambeth Council and the Department for Education (DfE) on where this will be provided to minimise any disruption. We will ensure this will be as close as possible to the current site.

Yes, the new development will bring new work opportunities to Waterloo, both in the construction and operational stages of the development. We currently believe that the enabling development will be office-led, and so will create new workspace to accommodate businesses, jobs and training opportunities. Also, the not-for-profit community and training restaurant which Oasis will operate will provide new work opportunities.

It will be a requirement of any future planning permission to commit to a local employment and skills package, which as a minimum requires 25% of jobs created to be targeted for local people and will also create new apprenticeships. We will be asking our prospective development partners to explain their proposed approach to this and how they can add value and go beyond the minimum.

The key benefit for the neighbourhood is in creating a new fit-for-purpose educational environment for the school. However, we think there are a wide range of other potential public benefits that the scheme will bring to the Waterloo neighbourhood. These include:

• Providing and promoting excellence in Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provision, ensuring an opportunity for quality education is provided to all in Waterloo and north Lambeth.
• The provision of a permanent location for Waterloo library with facilities fit for a modern public library service.
• The creation of a new Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) which Oasis will make available for community use outside of school hours, creating new opportunities for sports and activities.
• Additional workspace to bring new jobs and employment opportunities into the area, along with an employment and skills package to secure these opportunities for local people.
• The creation of a hospitality, catering and training hub at the not-for-profit restaurant.
• Bringing greater footfall south of Waterloo station to add more vitality and custom to Lower Marsh businesses.
• Supporting the growth of the Waterloo office market by providing good-quality space to attract businesses and provide more space for existing businesses. It would also provide a proportion of Affordable Workspace, to ensure businesses of a range of types and sizes can find space in Waterloo.
• Replacing the current, energy-inefficient school building with a new, sustainable, net zero-carbon design and BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating (a leading sustainability assessment and rating for major building projects), to help tackle the climate crisis.
• A redesigned site would create / restore links and pathways through the site between Baylis Road and Lower Marsh, with an opportunity for a new public space within the site.
• A redesigned school is also an opportunity to help respond to local poor air quality and protect pupils against this.
• The relationship of the site to Baylis Road, currently blank and inactive, will be transformed, providing a vibrant, active frontage with natural surveillance to improve local safety.
• Potential Section106 (S.106) and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) contributions to support delivery of infrastructure improvements in the Waterloo neighbourhood.

The process of appointing a developer begins by going out to market for a tender process, and this is likely to be within the first half of 2022. We expect this process to take around 12-14 months to complete, due to the need for this to be rigorous and legally compliant. Once we have awarded a contract to our preferred bidder, they will commence the design and planning stages of the project. We currently expect that the decant of the school will take place in Autumn 2025 when the demolition and construction will commence. The construction of the whole scheme will take 24 months, of which 18 months will be the development of the school.

Currently the school is set to be complete by summer 2027 and the remainder of the scheme in early 2028.

Our first vision for the site included both new offices and new homes, including social housing, as part of the enabling development to deliver the wider community benefits at the heart of the project. Since then we have undertaken a rigorous review of options through our feasibility testing. This has indicated that, at this stage, a scheme with a residential component would not be able to fund the delivery of a new school and all the beneficial community uses on the site. It is essential that we can deliver a viable scheme, otherwise we will be unable to attract a development partner and the scheme will not be able to fully fund itself, nor will we deliver the additional benefits for the community, which is central to our vision.

We, therefore, believe that an office-led development presents the best viable option and are working on this as a reasonable assumption. However, we will also consider bids from developers who think they can deliver residential with policy compliant levels of affordable housing.

Noting our previous dialogue with the community on this matter, we recognise that it is critical to ensure there are tangible wider public benefits for the local community. At planning stage, we will explore the opportunity to use any financial contributions required through S.106 to provide improvements to the local area (such as public open space). The proceeds received from the CIL will also provide a contribution to Lambeth’s Infrastructure Delivery Plan, which includes the delivery of affordable housing locally. Separately, Lambeth Council’s wholly owned housing company, Homes for Lambeth, is already building more council homes for local families across the borough and is currently consulting on proposals for more council and affordable housing in Waterloo.

Separately, Oasis and Lambeth Council are in discussions around creating increased voice for local social housing tenants and residents, designed to enhance involvement in their estate conditions and management.

Yes. Today’s consultation is intended to provide you with an update on the project and how it has evolved since its inception, as well as to outline our key objectives (the school, library, training restaurant etc) and approach before we commence the process to secure a development partner. We would love to hear your thoughts on the project and its objectives before we move towards the procurement phase.

As the project progresses it is important for us to continue to gather the views of community members. We will be asking bidders to explain their approach to community engagement and consultation, to ensure that they are able to propose a meaningful way to develop a relationship and dialogue with our community.

Following the appointment of a development partner, we would expect them to engage with the community and our stakeholders during the pre-planning design stages, at which point the exact layout and content of the scheme will become clearer. This will be another important opportunity for you to provide input to shape the proposals coming forward. At planning stage, all the normal statutory opportunities for comment and representation on the application will be available. Once the project moves to construction and on-site delivery, we will also be keen to ensure that there is regular dialogue and updates to manage, reduce and mitigate disruption to residents and businesses and keep you up-to-date as the project progresses.

It will be critical that the development is of sufficient size to generate enough value to fund the delivery of the school and community uses on the site. However, we would expect our bidders to respond with their proposals as to how they can deliver a viable scheme which meets these key development objectives, whilst also being compliant with our local planning policy.

When we take the project to market, we would expect bidders to present their own ideas about the approach to design and how the scheme might be developed to deliver our key development objectives. We are in the process, however, of developing a detailed specification of requirements for the design of the school and community facilities, so that the developer understands our minimum requirements.

In due course, you will be provided with an opportunity to view and comment on the emerging detailed designs for the development before any planning application is submitted.

The scheme will clearly result in a reconfiguration of space compared to the existing site, which currently is spread in single-storey form that, it could be argued, makes very inefficient use of space in this highly urbanised location. In order to deliver a scheme which contributes more positively to the local area, we need to re-think the relationship of the buildings on the site to the surrounding neighbourhood.

The specifics of design will be developed once we have a developer on board, as they and their team will be able to bring creative thinking on how to bring forward the scheme to meet our needs, at the same time as meeting the requirements of policies within the Local Plan, the London Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which will ensure that various issues (including transport, highways, parking, design, heritage, privacy and amenity) are properly considered. The final decision on any planning application will be determined by Lambeth’s Planning Application Committee.

We think that providing new workspace in Waterloo has significant potential to benefit the whole of the neighbourhood in the following ways:

• It will create brand new office space, creating a net uplift in the availability of good- quality office space in Waterloo, which our recent research has indicated has been a limitation on the potential of the neighbourhood despite its many positive attributes.
• An office-led development would also include a proportion of Affordable Workspace (offered at a discount to market rents), which will provide much-needed access to good-quality space at affordable rents for start-ups and businesses delivering significant social value.
• It will draw the sphere of daytime and economic activity south of the station, creating footfall for Lower Marsh businesses.
• The businesses which will occupy the office space will bring new jobs to the Waterloo neighbourhood, contributing to Local Plan targets.
• An employment and skills plan will be required for the development, which will provide a strategy for securing access to jobs for local people, and the creation of apprenticeships, both at construction and occupation stages.

The majority of the existing school buildings date to the 70s, and without considerable investment are coming to the end of their life. We are concerned about the operation, upkeep and health and safety issues this presents. Refurbishment was originally considered as a possible option, but was dismissed because:

1. There is no available funding or grants from the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).
2. Neither Oasis nor Lambeth are able to fund this.
3. This approach would not deliver a fit-for-purpose 21st century learning environment nor the Special Educational Needs Resource Base which is so needed.
4. Nor would such a project deliver any of the wider benefits of the scheme we are presenting to you.

We strongly believe our proposal presents the best opportunity to deliver a transformational change for pupils, parents, staff and the Waterloo community as a whole, as well as securing the future of our school for the long term.

Lambeth Council own the freehold of the OAJ site, whilst Oasis own the long-term leasehold. It is therefore necessary for us to work together to take the project forward in a way that meets our respective organisational visions and objectives. This is also an excellent opportunity to continue to build on our existing partnership in delivering services for the Waterloo community.

Neither Oasis nor Lambeth have the access to funding or capital grants to be able to deliver the new school and community facilities on their own. We, therefore, need to incorporate an enabling development within the scheme to provide a means of funding the project. We believe that securing a development partner is the best means of achieving this (rather than self-delivery) as they can bring their resources and expertise in delivering mixed-use schemes. This also helps us manage our exposure to risk.

Absolutely, please email Consultation@oasisjohanna.org including your name and email address, and we will be very happy to arrange for you to be added to our mailing list.