Woolwich riverside development now sees both tower cores up
The second tower core is up and work underway on surrounding floors at a Woolwich riverside development.
This is tower six or six at this particular plot, with each having a slightly different colour scheme.
The main photo above shows how the Waterfront leisure centre now stands out like a roe thumb. It’ll close in 2025 and redevelopment with towers seems inevitable.
Question now is what form it takes, with Greenwich Council chronically short of truly affordable housing.
All these blocks are tightly packed between the Thames and a dual carriageway, with little effort expended in either direction.
They’re rather chunky blocks, and no double-height ground floor exacerbates that overbearing feel.
The Thames-side is mostly blank walls while facing the road the buildings are tightly against, leaving little room for paving space let alone a cycle lane for a forthcoming safe, secure and direct network.
All in all this screams maximising space with public realm and context a very secondary afterthought.
It wouldn’t be quite so bad if pedestrians and cyclists weren’t such an afterthought with decant public realm and usable space, but once again they weren’t concerned about that.
The developer is asking over a million for some flats to boot. A shame some of that couldn’t improve the local area.
Where Berkeley builds next is as yet unknown.
If it’s the temporary park expect many to complain – even though that’s been the plans for over a decade now.
