[7][8] The new facility was designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, built by Laing O'Rourke at a cost of £42 million and completed in June 2008.

[9][10] The developer had specified that at least 10% of the building's power requirement should be capable of being met from renewable energy.

[11] Southwark London Borough Council, which had previously been based at the ageing Camberwell Town Hall, moved into the completed building, which measured 18,500 square metres (199,000 sq ft),[11] as rental tenants in March 2009.

[12] The council acquired the freehold ownership of the building from UBS for £170 million in December 2012.

[7] Memorials to council staff who had died in the First and Second World Wars, which had been recovered from Camberwell Town Hall, were rededicated by the Bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun, at Tooley Street in March 2013.