as Canada Water’s latest residential tower arrives, we hear from British Land on what buyers can expect from The Founding, clad in steel and overlooking London Pages 14-15
what The Founding , British Land’s flagship residential building at its Canada Water scheme, offers buyersby Jon Massey
Just over a month ago, something momentous happened in London’s property market. British Land and its partner, AustralianSuper, celebrated the topping out of their first phase of development at Canada Water.
Dominating that site is the steel-clad edifice of The Founding, the project’s first residential tower, and every inch of its 35 storeys a flagship structure. While its neighbouring buildings will contain a leisure centre, workspace and places to eat and drink, apartments mean people in residence 24-hours a day, 365 days a year, a potent addition to an already thriving south-east London community.
Over 12 years, the wider 53-acre site will have much more to come – see Pages 24 and 25 for some of the changes expected this year – but our focus here is on what The Founding will offer as a place to live.
“It contains 186 apartments and the views from every side are fantastic,” said Simon Capp, head of residential sales at British Land.
“We’re super-lucky in that we’ve got low-rise geography locally overlooking Southwark Park to the west and Canada Dock to the east.
“Architecturally, it’s special, designed by Allies And Morrison, who have a strong track record in large-scale towers.
“It has quite an industrial, urban aesthetic – appropriate for Canada Water, which historically has been a hard-working part of town dealing with shipping and cargo. It has a warehouse-like feel.”
Head inside, though, and while there are some stylistic nods to industry, there’s also plenty of home comforts.
“All the interior architecture
has been created by Conran And Partners, which has a really strong track record in luxury hotels and premium residential developments,” said Simon. “We have two show flats – a one-bed and a two-bed – available for buyers to view at the marketing suite.
“The properties feature oak flooring and Crittall-style windows as well as concretestyle worktops, wooden kitchen cabinets and open-plan design.
“The building predominantly houses one and two-bedroom apartments, with around 15 three-beds on the upper floors with fabulous views and studios also available.”
Residents can expect Samsung appliances as standard as well as underfloor heating and comfort cooling in one, two and threebeds. Properties come with LED downlighters and track spotlights in the coffered ceiling areas of living rooms, sizeable bathrooms and balconies with views across London.
“Even for this first phase, we’ve got a very good level of enlivenment in the form of restaurants, cafes and bars,” said Simon. “We’ve started work on the transformation of the courtyard, which will be completed late this summer.
“The Founding’s proximity to the station means it’s about a minute to get from the building’s lobby to the Tube and Overground services. As a residential offer, this is really one of a kind.”
With more than a decade of work taking place locally, The Founding is also well located to avoid much of the construction that is in the pipeline.
By the end of this year work to renovate Canada Dock will be complete meaning residents can move into The Founding safe in the knowledge that no significant building work on the project will take place on adjacent land.
Instead they’ll be able to take advantage of Asif Khan’s bridge
homes on the
Architecturally it’s special, designed by Allies And Morrison, who have a strong track record in large-scale towers
Simon Capp, British Land
over the docks and a new food, drink and cultural destination that will be installed at Surrey Quays as regeneration takes place further to the south and east.
“Canada Water is already a fully established place – a very nice neighbourhood,” said Simon. “Our Canada Water project is more of a revitalisation – stitching something really exciting into what is already a well-established community.
“We’ve taken what we’ve learnt from other large scale developments such as King’s Cross and putting that into action.
“There will be a great mix of residential and commercial space and, with the dock, we’re working to increase the biodiversity to make this an even better place to live – a fresh and lively district.”
The Founding itself includes three roof terraces for residents to use as well as communal spaces for work and relaxation. Further perks include three years’ membership to a London cycle hire scheme as well as bike storage for each apartment.
Ideally located for public transport, buyers can be in Canary Wharf or London Bridge within minutes, with the Windrush Line offering rapid access to the likes of Whitechapel, Shoreditch and Dalston.
Simon said: “Given that rents are currently high, people are looking to purchase. We’ve been getting interest from a mix of buyers including people who work in Canary Wharf, some of whom don’t want to live there and are looking for something a bit different.”
key details
Prices at The Founding start at £704,000 for studios and one-beds. Two-beds start at £986,500, while three-beds are expected to start at around £2million.
Properties come with a circa 500 year lease and an estimated service charge of £6.56 per sq ft. Go to thefounding.co.uk for more
Scan this code for more about The Founding’s apartments
An artist’s impression of how The Founding will look when work is completed
£490,000
Starting price for a property at Bermondsey Heights in Zone 2
Buying at the beginning of regeneration is nearly always the best time to purchase
why South Bermondsey might be a clever place to put your cash as the area undergoes titanic regenerationby Jon Massey
People are smart nowadays, they’re not just buying somewhere because it’s a great place to live – they’re looking at lots of different elements and whether they’re going to see capital growth on their purchase,” said Yolanda Jacob, sales and marketing director at Barratt East London.
“Even if they stay for five years, they want to see a property will be a good investment for them.
“Buying at the beginning of regeneration is nearly always the best time to purchase, because you’re going to see capital growth because of everything that’s going on in the area.”
We’re discussing Bermondsey Heights, the developer’s latest south-east London scheme.
When complete, the Ilderton Road complex will house 163 one, two and three-bedroom homes as well as 32 shared ownership apartments, rising to 26 storeys at its highest point.
This includes the Skyline Collection, a clutch of properties spread over the top four floors with an enhanced specification and, presumably, the best views the scheme has to offer.
Barratt has a bit of a track record in building developments in areas that then go on to see vast swathes of regeneration unfolding, with buyers enjoying the upswing in property values and boost in amenities that result.
Maple Quays at Canada Water and Enderby Wharf on Greenwich Peninsula would be two examples.
This could well be true for Bermondsey Heights as well. Over the road to the north, Renewal has plans for some 3,500 homes, office spaces and, potentially, a new Windrush Line station on land surrounding Millwall FC’s ground.
For context, New Bermondsey is a scheme comparable in size to Royal Arsenal Riverside in
Woolwich or Kidbrooke Village.
“House prices locally are forecast to rise by 25%, which is huge compared with other areas,” said Yolanda. “People who bought at the start of similar schemes in Brixton, Shoreditch or King’s Cross will be very happy with their investment after five or 10 years.
“These are destinations people now go to for socialising, entertainment and shopping.”
Alongside New Bermondsey, British Land’s 12-year redevelopment of Canada Water – complete with a new town centre – is also within walking distance of Barratt’s scheme and will benefit buyers. But what will those future residents actually be purchasing?
“Each apartment will have outside space – either a winter garden or a balcony,” said Yolanda. “They have open-plan living areas and kitchens with all your appliances, finished to a high specification.
“Buyers can have the option to choose a colour scheme – they can bespoke the apartment and pick flooring, tiles, carpets and bathroom decor. The designs are very fresh, clean and bright.
“We also offer furniture packages, with designers who can come in and help buyers personalise their home.
“Then there’s a concierge service at the development as well as a podium garden and a roof terrace for residents.”
While some developments come stuffed with facilities, Barratt’s approach in South Bermondsey is to pare back its offering to keep service charges down in a move it believes will be attractive to buyers.
“These days new-builds offer so many options,” said Yolanda. “There are developments offering cinemas and golf simulators, but you’re going to pay a lot for those facilities.
“What we want to do is make
investing
Scan this code for more about Bermondsey Heights
sure we’re building homes that are affordable, and where they don’t have the worry of having to pay thousands of pounds a year on service charges, for facilities they may not use that much.
“In the middle of London such amenities can easily be found and we don’t want to tie people into spending lots of money on things they don’t want to use.
“Our aim is to cover the basics and then leave it up to personal choice. That way we can keep the service charge to around £3 per square foot, which is attractive to buyers.”
Bermondsey Heights is located within 10 minutes’ walk of South Bermondsey station for services into London Bridge.
Residents can also walk 15 minutes to Surrey Quays station for Overground services on the
Windrush Line and connections to Canary Wharf within two stops.
“It’s a largely unregenerated area at the moment with industrial units, workshops and warehouses – but there’s a major injection of funding coming and it has brilliant backup with its neighbouring places,” said Yolanda.
“You’ve got Deptford down the road, which has seen quite a bit of a resurgence in popularity as well as Surrey Quays and Elephant And Castle, which have already seen extensive regeneration. Then there’s New Bermondsey in the pipeline.
“Bermondsey Heights for people looking for affordability and somewhere they can put down some roots. It’s an interesting proposition in terms of pricing – statistics from JLL show
we’re about 19% lower compared with other Zone 2 developments across the capital.
“That’s been a huge draw for people whether they’re buying for investment or to live in because they can see lots coming here and that the infrastructure is going to improve.”
An explanation, perhaps, for the fact Barratt’s scheme is already more than 50% sold. Be quick.
need to know
Properties are now on sale at Bermondsey Heights through Barratt East London. Prices start at £490,000.
A new show home is set to launch at the development in May with further details available online.
Go to barratthomes.co.uk for more information
Properties at Bermondsey Heights feature outdoor space in the form of winter gardens or private balconies
An artist’s impression of how a show home interior at Bermondsey Heights in south-east London will look
