British Land has been given the go-ahead to redevelop the Printworks building in its £3.5bn Canada Water scheme, ending its much-loved “meanwhile” use as a popular nightclub.
Southwark Council’s planning committee followed its planning officers’ recommendation and voted unanimously to approve the reserved matters application for the building, a former printworks that has operated as a nightclub and events venue since 2017.
British Land plans some 490,000 sq ft of commercial space at the scheme, including office, flexible workspace and retail. The development will span two buildings linked with an internal bridge on the first floors.
Emma Cariaga, joint head of the Canada Water scheme at British Land, told the planning committee that the company had enjoyed its best year for office leasing in a decade this year and is confident of demand for the new office space. “Lots of developers stopped building during Covid, so there is a shortage of amazing space for employees who are a bit more discerning about the sort of office environment they want to come back to,” she said.
The planning officers’ report on the scheme noted “a significant number of objections” over the fact the site will no longer be used as a nightclub and music venue, but added: “The events use was initiated as a short-term interim/meanwhile use in 2016 pending development of the building within the masterplan. It was never intended to be a permanent use of the site.”
David Walters, project lead at British Land, acknowledged concerns over the loss of the building as a nightclub and said the company is exploring using part of the Printworks as a “cultural venue”. In a statement following the committee meeting, British Land confirmed that it aims to work with Printworks operator Broadwick Live and Southwark Council “to explore retaining a cultural venue” in the building.
Permission was granted for the site to be operated as a nightclub in 2016 for a five-year term. That term was then extended by a further five years and is now set to end in 2026. Of 684 public comments on the development, 675 were objections, many to the choice of replacing a cultural venue with offices. A petition with more than 10,000 signatures has been launched to save the nightclub, although this was not submitted as part of the council report.
“If this trend continues there won’t be much left of the live electronic music scene for which London is renowned,” said one objector. “I applaud the masterplan as a whole, as it improves the public realm and breathes life into a derelict part of London, but surely there is a way to achieve this without losing arguably one of the best new live music venues in the UK.”
The 53-acre Canada Water site is being brought forward by British Land and Australian pension fund AustralianSuper, which bought into the project earlier this year. Outline planning consent for the broader scheme was given in May 2020. Work on phase one is underway on site and expected to complete in the third quarter of 2024.
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