The Canada Water Masterplan is a 53-acre, mixed-use scheme which will deliver around two million sq ft of workspace to accommodate around 20,000 jobs, around one million sq ft of retail, leisure, entertainment, education and community space and 3,000 new homes, of which 35% will be affordable.
With wellbeing embedded into the masterplan and the buildings designed 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 21-hectare site was formerly occupied by docklands, and many of the associated structures remain, together with large areas which were infilled in the 1980s.
Waterman’s civil engineering specialists identified buried structures, the associated groundwater and geotechnical properties of the ground beneath the site. This helped inform the basement and foundation design, and our team maintained a close consultation with London Underground throughout the scheme. We were also involved with ground contamination and the evolution of a sustainable remediation strategy.
Our flood risk and civil engineering specialists provided extensive support throughout the feasibility and concept design phases, delivering key input for value engineering and options studies up to planning including maximising residential floorspace within land at high risk of flooding, climate change adaptation, sustainable drainage (SuDS) and water quality benefits.
In addition to providing engineering design support during the development of the masterplan, we undertook the Environmental Impact Assessment and prepared the Environmental Statement to accompany the planning application, including a range of technical topics such as air quality, noise and vibration, flood risk and drainage, ground conditions and contamination and ecology. An arboricultural survey and impact report was also prepared which aided the landscape design, in particular the informing building line parameters by avoiding root protection zones and canopies.
BIM was used across the Canada Water masterplan, with all below ground infrastructure first designed and then modelled by Waterman using Civil 3D to ensure accuracy of design. Once we had produced the masterplan 3D infrastructure model this was circulated to the design teams as they came onboard, providing them with the underground proposals from an early stage. This allowed Waterman to lead the design and coordination process and drive the design team forward in our role as lead designers.
Elsewhere on the scheme, our volunteer team are supporting the design and construction of London’s largest circular economy building, the Paper Garden, which is a unique community facility incorporated within the site. The new Paper Garden Education Shed facility has been designed to repurpose discarded materials and fully embraces circular economy principles. The space will be utilised by environmental education charity, Global Generation, for community use and will also be a place from which to deliver their environmental education programme.
Client: British Land
Architect: Allies & Morrison
