Emerging as something of an ultimate urban village, the Peninsula finds its form under the masterplan of London architects Allies and Morrison. The firm, which celebrated its 35th year in 2020, came to the project with impressive pedigree having conceived schemes for the London Olympic Park and the Argent King’s Cross development.

Here, the vision imagines more than the usual large-scale office space to create a whole neighbourhood of new ideas. It enhances the Peninsula’s status as a hub for London’s culture-savvy and design-conscious.

Greenwich Peninsula's Design District

At the heart of Greenwich Peninsula, the Design District is London’s first permanent, purpose-built hub for the creative industries. A collection of 16 unique buildings designed by a team of eight leading architects supports an ecosystem of 1,600 creatives, encompassing individual makers, industry leaders, ambitious start-ups, ground-breaking enterprises and celebrated international studios.

It is a masterplan based on ideas rather than trends, and, unusually for a development of this scale, one with a rich and varied overarching design scheme, unlike other more uniform projects.

Pioneering the creative charge is Conrad Shawcross, who was commissioned to reimagine the new Low Carbon Energy Centre on the Peninsula. He added a 49-metre tower, The Optic Cloak.

The Peninsula, as it is surrounded on three sides by water, has a similar feel to New York—the sun rises and sets over the sea, so you get this reflected light. The building itself was of particular intrigue, because it was this very thin slice—only three metres wide—so there was an opportunity to do something that light could pass through.

Images by Marc Wilmott

His striking sculpture, is joined by a landmark, 30-plus metre work by Alex Chinneck, A Bullet from a Shooting Star, a giant red head called Head in the Wind by British pop-artist, Allen Jones and an over-sized mermaid (among other pieces) from former Peninsula resident, Damien Hirst.

A Bullet from a Shooting Star by sculptor Alex Chinneck has glowed on the Peninsula since 2015.

The self-taught British designer Tom Dixon—iconic for his highly sought-after copper pendant lights—has contributed his high-concept interiors to a limited-edition series of SOM-designed apartments and lofts, situated within the Upper Riverside neighbourhood.

“The idea was to make them a bit grittier, a bit more ‘British’ in a way—to try and bring in some warmth and realness,” says Dixon. “It was important to me to have symbolic items to do with industry, because industry had been a large part of the Peninsula until relatively recently.”

A stroll around the Peninsula today reveals echoes of its industrial heritage, but as the transformation gains momentum, it’s clear this is a vision that is fused to the future: crisp apartments have emerged, and a slick 60-bay state-of-the-art golf-driving range has secured a prime position for practicing your swing. Fast becoming an international destination in its own right, this is much more than gloss on a district that, for nearly a decade, found itself stalled.

Greenwich Peninsula is wrapped by 1.6 miles of the Thames

After Knight Dragon took full ownership of the site in late 2013, the company committed to playing the long game —this is a 25-year development — and the Peninsula is set to witness the biggest change to its landscape since the Dutch originally drained the region to use as farmland and meadows. A vibrant mixed-use pedestrianised district in the heart of the Peninsula is also home to Ravensbourne College students and acts as the gateway to The Tide, a riverside linear park.

Landscape architect GROSS. MAX., no strangers to designing waterfront schemes, conceived the serene and calming landscaping along The Tide – running from Peninsula Square along the riverfront. As for the apartments: The great variety of possible building scales, heightened architectural potential, and interplay between landscape elements produces a really dynamic and exciting built environment.

2020 saw the completion of the Peninsula’s newest neighbourhood, Upper Riverside, and impressive progress in the Design District. Greenwich Peninsula now finds itself an energised village, a pioneer for a sustainable and inspiring way to live in London and Knight Dragon is committed to realising the vision of Greenwich Peninsula as the capital's most boldly modern landscape.

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