Woolwich Waterfront car park towers now rising

It’s barely visible when passing but the first signs of new towers coming to the former Waterfront car park site in Woolwich are now visible above hoardings.

What may appear to be stump of little importance is actually quite something as London’s declining property market could have put the blockers on this. It appears not to and so the Woolwich skyline will continue to quickly change.

This is what will appear in coming months and years. Five towers in total:

The towers are rising before Waterfront lesiure centre moves to a new site in the town centre on General Gordon Square near Woolwich Arsenal station. That has been delayed. The loss of parking hasn’t been without controversy and is believed to be a factor in declining membership at the centre.

These new towers are just about becoming visible as two other adjacent towers complete. One is on the Callis Yard site with 152 homes across that development – as covered yesterday – and the other is a Berkeley Homes tower:

I was a bit dubious about the riverside towers and given the slab like form, though in the flesh, as it were, they aren’t too bad at all. I do love a bit of burnt orange cladding which helps. The tapered form also mitigates against the mass.

I’m still waiting to see how the skyline appears when these new towers complete. The best skylines have variation in height yet a 22-floor limit seems imposed in Woolwich which could see a huge wall-like tower mass appear.

A new open space is planned as seen in the renders above. Despite this prime riverside site it appears there will not be many commercial units facing the Thames at street level.

Some do face onto Woolwich High Street which is currently a traffic clogged dual carriageway. A curious choice unless radical changes are coming to the road.

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