Cube Real Estate has submitted a planning application to demolish Lever House — the existing 11-storey office building on Fairfield Road in Kingston town centre — and replace it with two residential towers, each rising to 19 storeys.
The development sits directly adjacent to the Eden Campus project, the major regeneration scheme anchored by the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and Kingston University. The proximity to Eden Campus is not incidental. Cube Real Estate's proposal is designed to capitalise on the regeneration momentum in that part of the town centre.
The application proposes a significant net increase in height. Lever House already attracts mixed opinions as part of Kingston's skyline. Two towers nearly double its height would mark a step change in the scale of development the borough is being asked to accept.
The Kingston Society — one of the borough's most established civic amenity groups — has raised formal objections to the application. Their concerns are not simply aesthetic. They centre on several substantive planning issues that the council's planning committee will be required to address.
Scale and precedent. Critics argue that approving two 19-storey towers would set a precedent for tall buildings across Kingston town centre that has not been properly debated or adopted through the Local Plan process. The borough's planning policies on tall buildings are contested, and opponents say this application runs ahead of any agreed framework for where significant height is appropriate.
Impact on the townscape. Kingston town centre sits within the context of the Thames and a number of protected views and heritage assets. Objectors contend the towers would cause harm to the character and appearance of the surrounding area, including views from the river and from historic parts of the town.
The Eden Campus relationship. Some residents and the Kingston Society have questioned whether a privately developed twin-tower scheme genuinely complements Eden Campus, or whether it simply seeks to benefit from the regeneration branding while delivering a scheme that is out of scale with the broader vision for that area.
Residential amenity. Concerns have also been raised about daylight, sunlight, and overshadowing for existing neighbouring residents — issues that are material planning considerations and will need to be assessed rigorously by the council's planning officers.
Developers typically argue that tall residential schemes in town centres are sustainable, reduce pressure on suburban greenfield land, and help meet London's housing need. Kingston faces significant pressure to deliver new homes, and Cube Real Estate will likely argue their proposal contributes meaningfully to that requirement.
The council itself has acknowledged in its budget papers a projected four-year budget gap of £18 million against reserves of £14.2 million. New development generates Community Infrastructure Levy income and, eventually, council tax revenue — financial pressures that form the backdrop against which planning decisions are made, even if they should not be the determining factor.
Whether the developer's case stacks up against the planning objections is precisely what the planning process exists to test.
Kingston's planning committee must determine the application against the development plan — principally the Kingston Local Plan, the London Plan, and relevant national planning policy.
Key questions the committee must answer include:
The council's planning officers will produce a report with a recommendation — approval or refusal — and the elected planning committee members will then vote. That vote is a public meeting, and residents are entitled to attend, observe, and in many cases, speak.
This application does not exist in isolation. It arrives at a moment when the question of tall buildings in Kingston town centre is genuinely unresolved. The borough has seen pressure for taller development in several locations, and each application tests whether the council has a coherent, defensible policy position or is making decisions on an ad hoc basis.
The Kingston Society and local residents are, in effect, asking the council to be explicit: if you approve this, you are saying 19-storey towers are acceptable next to Eden Campus. If you refuse it, you need to say clearly why — and that reasoning needs to be consistent with how you treat future applications.
There are 48 councillors across 19 wards, and full council elections are scheduled for 7 May 2026. Planning decisions of this significance inevitably become part of a wider conversation about what kind of town Kingston wants to be — and who residents trust to shape it.
If you live, work, or have an interest in Kingston, you can submit a formal representation on the planning application through the council's planning portal at council.gov.uk. Search for the Lever House application by address or application number.
Representations must be based on material planning considerations — design, scale, heritage, amenity, transport impact, policy compliance — rather than general objections to change. The Kingston Society's published objection is worth reading as a template for the kinds of arguments that carry weight in the planning process.
You can also attend the planning committee meeting when the application is scheduled for determination. Dates are published on the council's website.
This is one of the most significant planning applications Kingston has considered in recent years. Residents deserve to know whether their elected representatives support the principle of 19-storey towers on Fairfield Road, what questions they are asking of the developer, and how they intend to hold the planning process to account.
Don't wait for a decision to be made before asking those questions. Use Council Clarity to message your ward councillors directly — ask them where they stand on the Lever House proposal, whether they believe Kingston has a robust tall buildings policy, and what they are doing to ensure residents' voices are heard before the planning committee votes. It takes two minutes, and your councillor is obliged to represent you.
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