Pinsent Masons advises Southwark Council on landmark Canada Water Masterplan development

The Pinsent Masons team, led by partner Anne Bowden, provided legal support to the Council throughout the complex negotiations with British Land, resulting in the exchange of the development agreement that paves the way for the planning phase.

A planning application has now been submitted for the project’s first three buildings, which include workspace, homes (of which 35 per cent will be affordable) and a new leisure centre.

These three buildings are part of a major first phase of the development covering a total of 1.8 million sq. ft. of mixed use space, comprising one million sq. ft. of workspace, 250,000 sq. ft. of retail and leisure space and 650 homes. Subject to planning approvals, construction of the first buildings will begin in spring 2019.

The wider Masterplan is expected to deliver up to 3,000 new homes, two million sq. ft. of workspace and one million sq. ft. of retail, leisure, entertainment and community space including proposed health and social infrastructure, and educational uses for all ages.

Commenting on the deal, Anne Bowden said:
"This is a truly significant urban redevelopment project that will create a whole new economic and living area in London. The project will create significant new housing as well as an entirely new office and retail zone. One of the key features of this project has been the sheer scale of anticipated development at Canada Water.

"British Land and the London Borough of Southwark have worked collaboratively to enter into an innovative long-term partnering arrangement that will enable the public sector to invest side-by-side with the private sector, thereby facilitating the sharing of long term development receipts and creating stability of development across the entire site. At Pinsent Masons we are seeing a resurgence of interest in local authorities partnering with the private sector to deliver large scale regeneration. The key with such projects is to ensure the alignment of the parties' interests. Canada Water is a great example of how the private and public sectors working together can unlock sites and create whole new districts to work and live in."

Alongside Anne Bowden, the Pinsent Masons team acting on the transaction comprised a multidisciplinary team including Luke Miotte, Nell Shaw, Emma O'Gorman, Chris Barkley, Oliver Mangiapane and John Christian.