British Land and AustralianSuper appoint Stanton Williams to design 300,000 sq ft life sciences scheme within their Canada Water Masterplan 

Construction of the Paper Yard, comprising 30,000 sq ft of modular lab space designed by Hawkins Brown, is due to complete in May, and is seeing positive early interest from potential life science occupiers.

British Land and AustralianSuper have appointed Stanton Williams to draw up plans for a 300,000 sq ft building with potential to support innovation and life sciences businesses, as part of the second phase of its Canada Water Masterplan in Central London.

Stanton Williams was selected on account of its unparalleled track record in delivering world class, innovative life sciences projects, including winning the Stirling Prize for Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge.  Stanton Williams’ newest venture at Canada Water will be equally ambitious and will consider the potential to accommodate a range of complex scientific requirements, within an uplifting and highly sustainable environment that encourages interaction, maximises daylight and promotes wellbeing.

The first phase of the Masterplan is already underway.  As part of this, British Land and AustralianSuper are delivering the Paper Yard, circa 30,000 sq ft of modular lab space located next to TEDI-London, a new engineering higher education enterprise co-founded by three global universities: King’s College London, Arizona State University and UNSW Sydney.  The new modular lab space, which is seeing positive early interest from occupiers across the life sciences sector, takes just under nine months to build and will be ready for occupation in May.

Emma Cariaga, Joint Head of Canada Water at British Land, said: “We have an incredibly rare opportunity at Canada Water to reimagine an entire district for London.  Our vision is to create a diverse and exciting neighbourhood rooted in innovation – somewhere that businesses can be inspired to grow and where people will put down roots.

“Delivering up to 2.5m sq ft of highly sustainable business and innovation workspace across the masterplan, Canada Water is in prime position to cater to the growing number of life science and innovation businesses requiring new, high-specification lab space, supporting the aims of the Government’s newly published Science and Technology Framework which pinpoints these burgeoning sectors as a crucial driver of economic growth. Canada Water presents a compelling proposition for prospective occupiers, on account of its vibrant, well-connected central London location which benefits from being in close proximity to three leading teaching and research hospitals including Guy’s Hospital in London Bridge; St Thomas’ Hospital in Waterloo and King’s College Hospital in Denmark Hill.”

Richard Wardle, Director at Stanton Williams, said: “We are delighted to be part of British Land's ambitious regeneration of Canada Water. This is a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the creation of a vibrant and collaborative environment that will foster innovation and nurture a new sense of community in the heart of the post-industrial Southwark Docks.”

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About British Land

Our portfolio of high quality UK commercial property is focused on London Campuses and Retail & Fulfilment assets throughout the UK. We own or manage a portfolio valued at £14.1bn (British Land share: £9.6bn) as at 30 September 2022 making us one of Europe’s largest listed real estate investment companies.

We create Places People Prefer, delivering the best, most sustainable places for our customers and communities. Our strategy is to leverage our best in class platform and proven expertise in development, repositioning and active management, investing behind two key themes: Campuses and Retail & Fulfilment.

Our three Campuses at Broadgate, Paddington Central and Regent’s Place are dynamic neighbourhoods, attracting growth customers and sectors, and offering some of the best connected, highest quality and most sustainable space in London. We are delivering our fourth Campus at Canada Water, where we have planning consent to deliver 5m sq ft of residential, commercial, retail and community space over 53 acres. Our Campuses account for 65% of our portfolio.

Retail & Fulfilment accounts for 35% of the portfolio and is focused on retail parks which are aligned to the growth of convenience, online and last mile fulfilment. We are complementing this with urban logistics primarily in London, focused on development-led opportunities.

Sustainability is embedded throughout our business. Our approach is focused on three key pillars where British Land can create the most benefit: Greener Spaces, making our whole portfolio net zero carbon by 2030, Thriving Places, partnering to grow social value and wellbeing in the communities where we operate and Responsible Choices, advocating responsible business practices across British Land and throughout our supply chain, and maintaining robust governance structures.

Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com

About AustralianSuper

AustralianSuper manages £150 billion of members’ retirement savings on behalf of more than three million members from around 441,000 businesses as at 31 December 2022. One in eight working Australians is a member of AustralianSuper, the nation’s largest superannuation fund.

About the Canada Water Masterplan

The Canada Water Masterplan is a 50:50 joint venture between British Land and AustralianSuper, working in partnership with Southwark Council to create a new town centre for London.

The Masterplan is a 53-acre, mixed-use scheme that will deliver around two million sq. ft of workspace to accommodate approximately 20,000 jobs, around one million sq. ft of retail, leisure, entertainment, education and community space, and around 3,000 new homes, of which 35% will be affordable.

With wellbeing embedded into the masterplan, and buildings to support low carbon living, the project will also create 12 acres of new open space, including a 3.5-acre park, a new Town Square, the first new high street in London for 100 years and 16 new streets.

The Masterplan was granted permission in late 2019. In March 2022 British Land entered into a 50:50 joint venture with AustralianSuper, Australia’s biggest profit-to-member pension fund, providing additional funding to accelerate the major regeneration scheme, with Phase 1 expected to complete in Q4 2024.