Rising up to 18 storeys, Water Yards is the first phase of a wider regeneration of the Canada Water area and includes 234 apartments for private rent and a 150,000 sqft Decathlon store with basement car park.
Sitting above a site wide basement, the new Decathlon store occupies the ground and mezzanine level, with an outdoor multi-use games area situated on the podium level. To provide the expansive spans required by the new store, we had had to adopt a post-tensioned solution for the podium structure, including a series of 2m deep post tensioned beams.
Above the podium are four residential cores of up to 17-storeys, surrounding a landscaped courtyard. The new blocks are clad in a mix of traditional masonry, with reconstituted sone banding and decorative metalwork.
The site sits between the former Surrey Commercial Dock (now Canada Water lake) and the Albion Channel – an ornamental canal. The building is also built over and around the listed Albion Dry Dock, which has been preserved and capped.
The site is also next to Canada Water Underground Station and the sitewide basement sits directly above the jubilee line underground tunnels, which required careful co-ordination with London Underground to approve the design and safe working methods.
As previous occupiers of the site, the Decathlon remained trading throughout construction, initially from a purpose-built temporary store before moving into the permanent store as we completed the residential build above.
The project was named Best Large Housing Development at the Brick Awards 2019 and Best Build to Rent Project at the WhatHouse? Awards 2018. The project was also shortlisted for a Housing Design Award 2020.
