Surrey Quays leisure park making way for homes

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans to bulldoze an entertainment park and replace it with hundreds of homes have been revealed.

Developer British Land wants to demolish sections of Surrey Quays leisure park in Southwark to make way for 420 flats.

The entertainment hub, which is home to an Odeon cinema, Southwark’s last bingo hall, and a Pizza Hut will be partially destroyed as part of the proposals to revamp the area.

In its place hundreds of flats across five buildings – the tallest 30 storeys high – will be constructed.

The plans are the latest stage in a multimillion pound scheme to revamp a 53-acre area – the size of 29 football pitches – near to Canada Water Tube station.

British Land has promised to create extra entertainment and leisure space elsewhere in future stages of the development, which is called the Canada Water Masterplan.

A new 12,500 square metre Tesco supermarket will be built underneath the proposed apartment blocks. It will replace the Tesco Extra in nearby Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, which is set to be demolished at a later stage.

British Land has arranged with Tesco for the current Surrey Quays Shopping Centre supermarket to stay open until the new one is finished to minimise disruption for customers.

British Land documents, published as part of the consultation into the next stage of the development, read: “The 420 homes will sit on top of what is called the ‘podium’ (effectively the top of the Tesco store), and will be spread across five buildings.

“More than 75 per cent of the homes will be dual aspect (windows on two or more walls), which is important for capturing natural light and supporting the wellbeing of those living here, and helping to minimise noise, particularly along busier routes such as Redriff Road and Surrey Quays Road.

“The majority of the ground floor of the building is given over to the Tesco building. We are currently proposing 542 car parking spaces at basement level, to be shared by people using the Tesco Extra and those visiting the new town centre.

“This will include 33 spaces for Blue Badge holders. The spaces will be available to Tesco customers for three hours, but also to any other town centre visitors.”

Of the 420 new homes, 115 or 27 per cent of them will be available at social rents, while 141 or just over a  third of the flats will be set at affordable rents – which are usually around 80 per cent of the market price. The remaining 164 flats or 39 per cent of apartments will go for market prices.

British Land expects to submit an application for the plans to Southwark ouncil in Scummer. If the proposals are approved building work is expected to begin in Spring 2023, with the aim of finishing the development by 2027.

Pictured top: CGI of planned apartments with new Tesco below; Centre picture: GGI of planned apartments from Redriff Road. (Pictures: British Land)