Dexter Moren Associates (DMA), the award-winning architects, have received planning permission for a 274 key hotel on a disused brownfield site in the heart of Waterloo on behalf of client Frogmore. Apart from the guest rooms, the new development will include a ground floor restaurant fronting onto an inviting public courtyard and pocket park. The mid-market hotel will be situated in the heart of the London Borough of Southwark and it will contain two separate blocks of accommodation connected via an elegant light weight glazed bridge link. A public route between the two blocks will lead to a verdant pocket park and the new Marlborough Yard. The pocket park will incorporate seating, sculpture and abundant planting to offer respite and a sense of place within the hubbub of city life. Diverse tree species will provide shade and create a calm oasis, as well as helping to improve local air quality. Native and ornamental plants will foster biodiversity throughout the scheme and a mosaic of wildflower and sedum green roofs will provide a habitat for wildlife. “This is a complex and sensitive site and our design has been through several iterations, each taking on board comments from council officers and local stakeholders. The approved scheme is a thoughtful and outward looking development that is respectful to its context and neighbours, as well as creating a beautiful pocket park that invites locals and hotel guests alike to meander through the re-instated roadway and spend time in the restaurant and courtyard,” said director of DMA Mark Wood. The company’s design will reinterpret local materials and characteristic into a contemporary piece of quality architecture. The three colours used are glazed green, yellow London stock and pale white matt, while the textures and tones of brickwork reflect the local Victorian industrial vernacular and public houses and give a light, delicate façade, with a repetition of bay elements creating a structure and vertical rhythm. The work on the site will start this summer and will aim to achieve BREEAM Excellent rating.