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Southwark approves £4bn Canada Water plans

1 Oct 19 The creation of a new town centre at Canada Water in London Docklands passed a key milestone last night as Southwark Council planning committee resolved to grant planning permission for British Land’s masterplan.

Artist's impression of the new town square at Canada Water
Artist's impression of the new town square at Canada Water

The Canada Water Masterplan is a 53-acre, £4bn mixed-use scheme that will deliver around two million square feet of workspace, one million square feet of retail/leisure and community space, and around 3,000 new homes.

It will also have what is being billed as the first new high street in London for 100 years as well as 16 other new streets.

The masterplan site includes Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, Surrey Quays Leisure Park, the Printworks and the former Dock Offices courtyard.

As well as the outline masterplan, the planning permission also covers the delivery of the first three new buildings in the overall masterplan. These buildings include 265 new homes, a leisure centre, new public spaces and 330,000 sq ft of workspace, which could be built by 2024. Building A1 will provide both residential and workspace. Building A2 will be focused on workspace and a new leisure centre, with both buildings providing a small amount of retail at ground floor. K1, the third building will be wholly residential.

British Land expects the whole masterplan to take around 15 years to build out.

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View of the new Dock Office Courtyard community square, looking towards Building A2 and the Leisure Centre entrance
View of the new Dock Office Courtyard community square, looking towards Building A2 and the Leisure Centre entrance

The resolution to grant planning permission follows five years of consultation; Southwark Council entered into a conditional master development agreement with British Land last year. 

British Land chief executive Chris Grigg said: “We have an incredible opportunity at Canada Water to create a vibrant neighbourhood for people to live, work and enjoy. We’re hugely excited about delivering this exceptional, mixed-use and sustainable landmark development, which has been designed to support people’s wellbeing. We thank the council for all their hard-work and we look forward to continuing to work with them and the local community.”

Southwark Council leader Peter John said: “We are delighted that this major step towards our vision for Canada Water has been approved. The Masterplan provides the blueprint for an exciting new town centre that will provide thousands of new homes, particularly hundreds of new social rent homes, new jobs and opportunities, new open spaces and a brand new leisure centre for Rotherhithe in the first phase of the work. We look forward to working with British Land over the next few years to bring forward the plans and making sure our local residents are the beneficiaries of the opportunities the regeneration will provide, as laid out in the Canada Water Social Regeneration Charter.”

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