Canada Water: first homes for sale in new £5.6bn London neighbourhood
J ust south of a bend in the Thames, a tower block is rising out of the ground, surrounded by several cranes and construction workers. So far, so standard for the capital’s never-ending development and redevelopment.
However, this block of flats is one of the first buildings being constructed at Rotherhithe, for Canada Water, a new London neighbourhood.
The FTSE 100 London-focused property developer British Land has a master development agreement with the local council, Southwark, to deliver a new, mixed use town centre.
The company’s huge Canada Water project covers 21.4 hectares (53 acres). On completion in approximately 10-15 years up to 3,000 new homes will have been built, 35% of which are described as affordable, as well as shops and office buildings, with space for 20,000 workers, as well as a life sciences complex, a new municipal leisure centre and a repurposed cultural hub.
“We don’t think there’s anything of a scale as this [development] other than King’s Cross,” says Emma Cariaga, the head of residential and the joint head of Canada Water at British Land.
The first homes in a residential building, The Founding, have just gone on sale in the £5.6bn regeneration scheme, which is a 50:50 joint venture between British Land and Australian pension fund Australian Super.
The core of the main tower currently stands at 20 storeys, but once it is completed and new residents can move in approximately 18 months’ time, the building will be 35 storeys tall and will contain 186 one-, two- and three-bed flats, all of which will have their own balcony.
As well as marking the beginning, The Founding is also named in reference to the timber which arrived here by ship from North America – hence Canada Docks – from the late 1870s
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