The transformation of London's Northbank: major regeneration plan to bring new homes, shops and bars set to rival the Southbank

London's Northbank looks across the Thames with envious eyes. Its Southbank rival has managed to become an exciting and commercially successful, cosmopolitan cultural district by the water.

“The Northbank is a positive concept and supports local businesses,” says Dan Osborne of planning consultancy Barton Willmore. “But it’s difficult to compare it with the Southbank brand, which has been a successful tool in enabling regeneration of a once down-at-heel part of London.”

The multibillion-pound revamp of nearby Elephant & Castle has ensured that new homes are at the heart of regeneration along the south bank.

With this in mind, the Northbank has set its sights on becoming London’s latest major regeneration project.

Strand features historic buildings and big brands. It has Somerset House, The Savoy hotel and theatre and the Vaudeville and Adelphi Theatres.

Yet despite being visited by more than a million tourists and workers a week, it has its problems. Rough sleepers occupy the doorways at night, while heavy traffic pollutes the air all day long.

The street feels neglected, with poor lighting and litter, and when partygoers spill out of nearby nightclubs the police must deal with endless petty crime and antisocial behaviour.

Most visitors, who find themselves funnelled along the heaving thoroughfare that was once a royal processional route, are oblivious to the hidden green spaces of Victoria Embankment Gardens and Whitehall Gardens just moments away.

This stretch of the north bank runs from Trafalgar Square to the edge of Temple and is the focus of regeneration plans.

‘‘Over the years the area has lost its cohesion and identity,” says Kate Hart, who runs the Northbank Business Improvement District (NBID) team. “While the Northbank is home to many iconic venues, amazing architecture and cultural gems, its streets let it down.”

Detailed plans are being drawn up to do away with the Aldwych gyratory system, replacing it with a simple two-way road, with work starting at the end of next year.

A new plaza around St Mary le Strand church and in front of Somerset House will be grassed and landscaped and act as the central point of a new cultural campus, linking the nearby London School of Economics and King’s College.

Strand from Aldwych to Melbourne Place to the east will be pedestrianised and lined with cherry trees. The riverbank will be opened up to become a cultural quarter lined with restaurants, bars and retail to rival the Southbank.

A series of micro-projects has been under way several years. A team of uniformed ambassadors has helped more than 700,000 tourists navigate the area, encouraging many to use “cleaner-air walking routes” off Strand.

A giant living green wall has been installed at Embankment Tube station to improve air quality, encourage biodiversity and make Villiers Street prettier, and the streets are cleaned as soon as the nightclubs close.

The NBID has set up an outreach programme to help 2,600 homeless people; 100 double-decker busloads of rubbish have been collected and recycled, and the Christmas lights in Villiers Street are London’s most eco-friendly, powered by recycled cooking oil.

Westminster council, which is to fund the £28 million scheme, will publish its new city blueprint at the end of this month, revealing further plans for the “underused riverside space along the north bank”, a council spokesman tells Homes & Property.

“Our exciting ambition will transform our waterways and north bank of the River Thames to create vibrant new hubs for business and leisure,” he adds.

The capital-wide affordable housing crisis is intensified on the Northbank. Land values here send the price of any new homes sky-high.

There is little space for new schemes among the listed buildings, leisure businesses and offices, so the area lends itself to hugely expensive, luxury boutique schemes or build-to-rent blocks.

The average cost of a detached home in the Northbank district is just over £3 million, according to estate agent Kay & Co. The price tag for a flat is £940,718 compared with a Greater London average of £429,628.

The developer Lodha is building Lincoln Square, a 10-floor, 221-apartment complex with one-bedroom flats to four-bedroom penthouses just south of Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Built around a central courtyard, it overlooks the LSE library and has views of St Paul’s Cathedral. Prices start from £1.5 million. Contact sales@lincolnsquare.co.uk.

The Floral Court Collection in Covent Garden is another new luxury scheme. Only a handful of the 31 homes are still available, including a £20 million penthouse that went on sale last month.

The apartments by Capco start from £1.3 million. Email sales@floralcourtcollection.com or call 020 70875111.

Early plans have been approved for the conversion of Arundel Great Court in Surrey Street. The office block will be transformed into a hotel, 18 serviced apartments, shops and 151 residential units.

Westminster’s new plan will insist on the provision of 35 per cent affordable homes in each development, meaning the building should deliver some lower- priced properties in Strand.

Tenants who work in Westminster and have a joint household income of less than £90,000 are eligible for Dolphin Living’s affordable rental scheme, 7 Thorney Street.

There are one- to three-bedroom apartments available for £276 per week in Millbank by Lambeth Bridge, only a 10-minute walk from the Northbank along the river.

The housing charity has also delivered a block of 78 flats with Barratt Homes in Soho — 2 Hopkins Street has 65 homes for intermediate rent and 13 for private sale in Broadwick Street.

The building has a basement restaurant and a communal roof terrace. Rents start at £190 a week (dolphinliving.com).

The Southbank is only a bridge away — an attractive thought for first-time buyers wanting greater choice among the more affordable homes and shared-ownership properties on offer as Southwark and Elephant & Castle undergo extensive regeneration.

L&Q’s Elephant Park shared-ownership homes are just a short walk from Waterloo Bridge and the Northbank.

The 3,000-home development is designed around a new two-acre park with space for 50 new shops, cafés and restaurants. A 25 per cent stake in a one-bedroom home will cost £138,750 (full market value £555,000).

In Borough an old fire brigade building is being converted into Brigade Court, a collection of one- to three-bedroom apartments with a private residents’ lounge and gym. Prices from £585,000 via CBRE (brigadecourt.london).

Of course, the south bank has its fair share of luxurious homes. The latest to join the new-build towers, and the most prominent, is a 50-storey skyscraper made of curved glass panels.

One Blackfriars has 274 apartments, a 20-metre swimming pool, gym, spa, wine cellar and golf simulator. For prices and inquiries call 020 3582 8857.