Art-Invest Real Estate (Art-Invest) announces that on 13 September 2023 Southwark Council resolved to grant permission for detailed designs at Canada Water Dockside, its c.1.5 million sq ft (140,000 sqm) commercially-led, landmark scheme in Canada Water.  

A 4.5-acre site, Canada Water Dockside is one of London’s largest and most innovative developments that sits at the heart of the wider Canada Water regeneration area, next to Canada Water station, the Dock’s waterfront and alongside British Land’s 53-acre emerging neighbourhood. It brings to central London an exciting and unique proposition; a new workspace hub offering  Grade A, sustainability-led buildings with new places to eat, drink and relax fronting the water’s edge, surrounded by 130 acres of open green space.

The reserved matters applications (RMAs) approved by Southwark Council include the detailed plans for two commercially-led buildings, designed by internationally renowned architects, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and HWKN Architecture (HWKN), and new public realm from Townshend Landscape Architects. Alongside the RMAs, Southwark Council also approved Art-Invest’s plans to transform Canada Water Dock’s eastern edge.  Designed by globally renowned garden designer and Chelsea gold medallist, Andy Sturgeon, the dock edge’s pioneering new design connects the public directly with the water’s edge for the first time, creating waterside spaces that will provide an important new public amenity.

Canada Water Dockside offers flexible and future-focussed workspace for up to 10,000 people, alongside new community and public spaces providing a network of vibrant and socially and ecologically rich environments. Marking a departure from the traditional office offer, its designs respond to a post-pandemic paradigm change in aspirations for workplaces and draw on the area’s abundance of green and blue infrastructure.

The buildings will become recognised for their range of amenities, prioritisation of active travel, enhanced biodiversity, promotion of connections to sport, play and wellbeing facilities in the area, and the unique composition of uses  on the ground floor. Fully-permeable and open to the public, the ground floor offer will be curated to purposefully blur the lines between inside and outside, inviting in its visitors and creating a strong sense of community amongst its occupiers.

Exceptionally well connected with the Jubilee Line and London Overground on its doorstep, Canada Water Dockside is the ideal location for employers and employees alike who value health and wellbeing in the workplaces as well as opportunities to build links with, and contribute to, their surrounding community.

Designed by HWKN, A2 will be the first building brought forward. Comprising 240, 000 sq. ft of space across 11 storeys, the building will be a new type of office for London. It has been designed to meet ambitious sustainability standards, including BREAM Outstanding, to bring a renewed sense of community into our workplaces, and provide an unparalleled range of inspiring spaces designed to enhance a day in the office. The building is a showcase for HWKN’s signature design principles: the use of contextual materials, creating exciting spaces that enhance connectivity, and emphasizing unique spatial qualities to promote a wide range of workday options, both individual and group-focused.

Designed by the scheme’s masterplanner, BIG and located on the waterfront, A1 at 24 storeys with its distinctive tiered form will become a landmark building at Canada Water. Its design means the building is oriented towards views across the dock at lower levels and provides views across London towards the top floors. It offers highly flexible workspace with access to open terraces, accommodating tenants with differing requirements while also being adaptable to the future trends in the way our workplaces are used.

Art-Invest has a proven track record in delivering transformational projects and establishing new urban quarters. In Germany, Art-Invest successfully launched Die Macherei, Munich last year which has been awarded the LEED Gold award for sustainable neighbourhood development and it is currently onsite at similar projects including, ID Cologne and Die Macherei in Berlin.

Ali Abbas, Managing Director, Art-Invest Real Estate UK, commented: “We are pleased to have secured approval for this collection of RMAs alongside the designs for a new dock edge. Canada Water Dockside is an incredibly special project for us. Our vision for the scheme always went beyond delivering world class office buildings; we wanted to create a commercial hub rooted in health, wellness and community to complement our location at the heart of the new town centre.

“Canada Water Dockside being so well connected to the City, east London, and central London with Bond Street just ten minutes away will shift the focus of London’s workspace offer. We look forward to continuing to work with all our partners to bring forward this new and exciting place to work, relax and play beside the revitalised historic dock.”

Andy Young, Partner, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, commented: “The proposed design of building A1 was conceived as an antidote to the traditional idea of air-conditioned glass boxes as a place of work. Natural ventilation, garden terraces and a spectacular ground floor inviting cyclists and pedestrians equally, are all incorporated into a building that takes the form of five sustainable buildings stacked on top of each other, with a twist”.

Matthias Hollwich, Founder, HWKN, added: Matthias Hollwich, Founding Principal, HWKN, added: “The firm felt inspired to create an unforgettable contribution to London’s famed architectural heritage and to its future ambitions as a city. We intentionally designed our building unlike that of a standard office, but rather to create a place which suggests the atmosphere of a resort which fosters wellbeing and connectivity alongside focused productivity. A2 is an aspirational place to work, offering an alluring and inspiring environment filled with light, air, and nature as well as access to state-of-the-art equipment in and maximum activation on the ground floor for tenants, neighbours, and visitors. ”

Andy Surgeon, Principal, Andy Sturgeon Design, added:  “We are extremely excited about this new public realm which marries so many of the key aspects which define our practice.   People, ecology and biodiversity are at the heart of everything in this special waterside scheme.”