Southwark Council approved the two commercial buildings as a large number of reserved matter applications for the Canada Water Dockside masterplan were given the go-ahead on Wednesday (September 13).
Developer Art-Invest Real Estate is leading the masterplan scheme for the south-east London site, which includes 140,000 newly approved apartmentsSquare meters of office space Adjacent to Canada Water Station and the Dock Waterfront. It sits alongside Allies and Morrison’s massive 21-hectare British Land development next door.
BIG’s A1 building, a 110-metre-tall waterside tower, will feature ‘flexible’ workspaces with access to terraces across 24 floors.
The scheme features five vertical blocks twisted around a central core, creating terrace spaces overlooking the sidewalk on the lower levels and opening up views of central London on the upper levels.
Source: Detailed planning approval for March 2022
Canada Water Dockside
Art-Invest Real Estate says the building’s distinctive stepped shape will become a landmark for Canada Water.
HWKN’s A2 building, which is scheduled to be built first, will comprise 22,297 square meters of office space across 11 floors.
The US-based architecture firm, founded by German Matthias Holwich, says it designed the building to achieve the outstanding BREEAM rating.
The masterplan includes workspaces for up to 10,000 people, bars, cafes and restaurants on the waterfront, as well as landscaping designed by Townshend Landscape Architects and waterside spaces designed by landscape designer Andy Sturgeon along the eastern edge of the Dock.
Art-Invest Real Estate says the “future-focused” workspaces will represent a “departure from the traditional office offering (with designs that) respond to the post-pandemic paradigm shift in aspirations for workplaces” with connections to the area’s green spaces and waterside.
The ground floor of the buildings will be “fully permeable and open to the public” to “blur the lines between inside and outside,” the developer said.
Detailed plans for the site were approved by Southwark Council in March 2022, and replace phases 2-4 of the previous McRainor Lavington masterplan, which included a 40-storey tower designed by David Chipperfield Architects.
Andy Young, partner at BIG, said: “The proposed design for Building A1 was conceived as an antidote to the traditional idea of air-conditioned glass boxes as a workplace.
“Natural ventilation, garden terraces and a stunning ground floor, which attracts cyclists and pedestrians alike, are combined in a building that takes the form of five sustainable buildings stacked on top of each other, with a special touch.”
Matthias Holwish, founder of HWKN, said his company “intentionally designed our building in contrast to a standard office building, but instead to create a place that suggests a resort atmosphere that promotes well-being and connection alongside focused productivity.”