// British Land wins planning permission for a new 53-acre mixed-use scheme at Canada Water in south east London
// The town centre masterplan includes the first new high street in London in 100 years
// It features 16 new streets and retail space, as well as residential, leisure, public and office space
British Land has won planning permission for a new 53-acre Canada Water town centre scheme, which includes the first new high street for London in 100 years.
The proposals for the massive mixed-use scheme, located in south-east London, passed a key milestone this week when Southwark Council’s planning committee approved it.
The masterplan features around 1 million sq ft of retail, leisure, entertainment and community space.
A spokesperson for British Land told Retail Gazette that given it’s still in very early stages of the project, which is estimated to take 15 years to deliver, they are not able to clarify how much of that space will be given to retail specifically.
However, they said there will be some flexibility.
The masterplan also features 3000 new homes and 2 million sq ft of workspace to accommodate 20,000 jobs.
In addition, the new town centre will create 12 acres of new open space, including a 3.5-acre park and a new town square, plus the first new high street in London for 100 years alongside 16 new streets.
The masterplan will encompass Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, Surrey Quays Leisure Park, the Printworks and the former Dock Offices courtyard.
“We have an incredible opportunity at Canada Water to create a vibrant neighbourhood for people to live, work and enjoy,” British Land chief executive Chris Grigg said.
“We’re hugely excited about delivering this exceptional, mixed-use and sustainable landmark development, which has been designed to support people’s wellbeing.”
Southwark Council leader Peter John said: “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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