The area on the south side of the Thames between Waterloo Bridge and Hungerford Bridge was developed for the Festival of Britain in 1951 and The Royal Festival Hall was built that year. The National Theatre was completed in 1977. The South Bank complex also includes the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, the National Film Theatre and the Hayward Gallery. The 25-storey Shell Centre designed by Sir Howard Robertson and covering over 7 acres was built on Belvedere Road in 1962.

The South Bank as a residential area takes in areas from Vauxhall Bridge Road in the west to Bermondsey in the east. This is an area which has been transformed in the last decade or so by converting offices warehouses and factories into blocks of flats, putting up new buildings where land is available, and creating riverside developments wherever possible.

Around Waterloo Station, there are Victorian terraces in the streets such as Theed Street and Roupell Street. New developments of flats and small houses have been built in the area. There is a council estate east of Baylis Road. There are old and new flats in The Cut near the Old Vic. Hercules Road includes Victorian cottages and council flats. Nearby is Kennington with its Victorian houses. The redevelopment of County Hall created flats in the main blocks. The Old Shell headquarters building was also converted into flats and is now called the White House. MI6’s old headquarters at Century House in Westminster Bridge Road have been turned into the Perspective Building with flats. Round to Blackfriars Ridge there is River Court and Rennie Court, and more flats in the King’s Reach development. Falcon Point was formerly a council block but now the flats are mainly private.

There are old and new flats to be found around the Globe Theatre area near Bankside. There are warehouse conversions and other flats around the Cathedral and Clink Street between Southwark Bridge and London Bridge. Borough lies behind London Bridge and there are flats off Borough High Street. The recent creation of Tabard Square with several hundred flats is the big development in Borough. But there are other smaller conversions and in-fills and some original houses.

Bermondsey has become a very fashionable location in recent years. In Bermondsey, beyond Tower Bridge, there are many converted lofts and studios created out of warehouse-type buildings, as well as larger developments such as Grange Park. Leathermarket Street contains a block of flats from the 1990s. Many other flats have been created out of former Victorian commercial buildings.