The new development will involve construction of the Capital’s fourth tallest residential tower at 48-storeys, shops, offices and over 1,000 new homes.

Situated at 520 Old Kent Road, the 5-acre Cantium Retail Park scheme has been designed by local Southwark architectural practices – Brisac Gonzalez and Alan Camp Architects.

There will be four buildings rising to 37-storeys, two 11-storey and one of nine-storeys surrounding a central podium. The residential element of the buildings will be mixed tenure with separate cores for private sale, shared ownership and social-rented homes.

The new homes will include a mix of apartments, maisonettes, penthouses and townhouses, and 60,000 sq ft of offices, 24,000 sqft of retail space, 25,144 sqft of flexible space for restaurants, café, cinema and leisure premises and 6,415 sqft of space for cultural facilities such as a youth theatre or mini-opera house. The shops, restaurants and cafes are expected to create up to 580 new jobs.

The podium and one of the 11-storey buildings fronting onto the Old Kent Road will provide the majority of the development’s commercial floorspace, with 10 per cent of the space at discounted rent for start-up firms and small and medium-sized entreprises.

The new development will have a six-year construction programme. Existing Cantium Retail Park anchor tenants will be included in the development and the developers are holding discussions with other tenants about making provisions for them within the scheme.

Helen Rainsford, Senior Director at Aviva Investors said: “Aviva Investors is pleased planning consent has been granted for the regeneration of Cantium Retail Park.

“Working with Galliard Homes, we believe we can create a superb residential-led mixed-use development that will transform the site for the benefit of the local area.”

Stephen Conway, Executive Chairman of Galliard Homes said: “The regeneration of Cantium Retail Park will serve to kick-start the wider planned regeneration and transformation of the entire Old Kent Road into a vibrant new high quality commercial, retail and residential destination for South London.”