Work will start immediately on the £42m project to build 454 apartments at 5 Miles Street.

The project forms part of developer CLS’s wider £400m regeneration of Vauxhall Square, which will eventually see twin 50-storey office and flats towers built alongside a new hotel and cinema complex.

Urbanest bought its part of the Vauxhall Square site from developer CLS for £25m at the start of the year and will now implement the planning consent for the wider scheme by starting work.

Photovoltaic panels and a green roof will used to reduced carbon emissions and fuel consumption, alongside a combined heat and power unit designed to recycle heat and energy within the development.

It is the second deal for Balfour on the vast Nine Elms regeneration site after its sealed a preconstruction services deal for Chinese developer Wanda to deliver a high-rise residential scheme.

John Keaveney, regional managing director for Balfour Beatty said, “We are looking forward to continuing our longstanding relationship with Urbanest. To date we’ve delivered over 2,500 units of student accommodation for Urbanest and over 20,000 beds for private sector customers and academic institutes as well as significant investment into a number of schemes.

“Vauxhall Square is an important part of London’s development by incorporating the local student population into the local community and we’re pleased to be a part of the wider project”.

Angus Kearin, Projects Director at Urbanest said: “We are also extremely proud to continue our close relationship with Balfour Beatty. The quality of their work underpins the need for close collaboration between clients and contractors and this partnership has been integral to our ongoing success.”

Developer CLS recently gained planning to raise of the office content of the rest of its ambitious Vauxhall Square scheme and has yet to set a firm start date for the key Nine Elms scheme.