On Location - Canada Water: sustainable now and in the future

On Location

Wednesday 20 April 2022
08:00 - 13:30

This NLA On Location, hosted by British Land, conference presents the transformation of Canada Water.

For most of the 20th century, Canada Water was an area of working docks and canals on the south side of the Thames. Following the docks’ closure in the 1970s, the area was redeveloped in the 1980s and a big box shopping centre and leisure centre were built here alongside the vast Harmsworth Quays printing works which closed in 2012. Dramatic improvements to transport connections, including the Jubilee Line and Overground, have brought this site significantly closer to central London. By 2029 more than 8 million people will live within a 45-minute journey to Canada Water by train, tube and bus.

Canada Water is now being transformed into a new town centre through a long partnership between British Land, Southwark Council and the local community. The Canada Water Masterplan covers 53 acres providing jobs, homes, offices, shops and community facilities. Alongside 3,000 new homes, 2m sq ft of workspace and 1m sq ft of retail and leisure space, this new town centre will provide twelve acres of parks and public realm, anchored by three major public spaces: the ecologically restored Canada Dock — one of the remaining expanses of water from the Surrey Commercial Docks — a new Town Square, and the new 3.5-acre Printworks Park, alongside over a dozen pocket spaces. A new high street connecting Canada Water and Surrey Quays stations will be balanced by a network of narrower, pedestrianised shopping streets. Quieter, green routes will encourage people to explore the pedestrian-focused public realm.

This NLA On Location conference presents the transformation of Canada Water, updating on the masterplan for the area and exploring what makes this the UK’s most sustainable regeneration scheme.