Council to sell Duke Street Hill pavement for new office block

Under proposals to be agreed by Southwark's Labour cabinet next week, the council will work in partnership with the City of London Corporation's Bridge House Estates to market Colechurch House and surrounding land for sale.

The council owns the wide section of pavement between Colechurch House and Duke Street Hill, currently lined with benches including granite slabs from the old London Bridge.

Bridge House Estates will market the City and Southwark land together to seek a developer for a new office scheme on the site.

"[The sale] will enable a larger development on the site of Colechurch House whilst generating a sizeable capital receipt for the council, to be invested in improving facilities for local residents," writes Cllr Richard Livingstone, the council's cabinet member for resources.

"In addition, the new development made possible by this decision will contribute community infrastructure levy (CIL) and section 106 [payments] to improve the local environment.

"The disposal of the land will not hinder pedestrian use of the space, as a development is likely to retain this thoroughfare through a colonnaded area whilst building over it."

Any redevelopment of the site is likely to lead to the disappearance of the high-level London Bridge Walk shopping arcade and bridge across Duke Street Hill to London Bridge Station.

London Bridge Walk was constructed under the London Bridge Improvement Act 1962 and the London Bridge Act 1967. In 2007 the Government approved a statutory instrument giving Bridge House Estates the power to close the walkway without replacing it.

Colechurch House is part of the City of London's historic land holding in the Southwark area which has helped to pay for the upkeep of London's river crossings.