| Title: | Thames City, Nine Elms Square, Vauxhall, London |
| Markets: | Mixed-use |
| Client: | R&F Properties | CC Land |
| Services: | Landscape architecture |
| Region: | United Kingdom |
| Team: | Gillespies | SOM | Squire & Partners | Wilkinson Eyre | Elite Landscapes |
| Photography: | Rob Parrish | Gillespies | Francesco Russo |
Thames City is the revitalisation of 10 acres of former industrial land into a landmark residential-led mixed-use development. This transformative project for R+F Properties and CC Land signals a vibrant new chapter for the area, firmly establishing Nine Elms as a global destination. It's distinguished by a stunning collection of landscape spaces, including courtyards, green podium gardens, and an expansive linear park.
Thames City offers a rich mix of uses, blending new homes, offices, shops, restaurants, bars, cafes, and a cutting-edge community medical centre—all within 12 contemporary buildings. Enhanced by transport connections and beautiful public spaces envisioned by Gillespies, Thames City is designed to enrich and elevate daily life.
At its heart sits the new Linear Park, which will span an impressive 14 acres once complete. This ribbon of green space will run from the Vauxhall transport hub to Battersea Power Station and Battersea Park, boasting inviting pathways, serene waterside promenades, and tranquil gardens, offering opportunities for leisurely strolls and relaxation. The park will be delivered over several phases.
Nine Elms Park, the first section of the Linear Park, covers 2.5 acres and serves as an identifiable and visually prominent gateway to the wider park. Opened to the public in August 2023, it features a series of beautifully designed green spaces, ideal for hosting events and opportunities for outdoor recreation. With a thoughtfully planned network of waterside walkways, cycle paths, and green areas, Nine Elms Park aims to promote active lifestyles and enhance the well-being of all who visit.
Our approach to the landscape design offers a great variety of experiences. The park has evolved to present two distinct sides, with a retail edge activating the south and a quieter residential edge to the north. As such, a varying intensity of landscape has been developed to control the usage and speed by which visitors move through.
To the south retail façade, a waterside promenade offers the most direct route from east to west, with open and expansive views across the lawn. To the north, meandering and undulating forms allow visitors to stroll and rest within intimate, enclosed gardens. The structural forms subtly reference the historic and dramatic landscape researched as part of the Battersea Channel Project, which revealed distinctive geological features such as eyots and channels.
Throughout the park, an emphasis has been placed on specifying mature and specimen tree plantings, each selected for their stature and visual impact. The variety of planting will introduce greater biodiversity and seasonal interest.
Two towers in Phase 1 of the development —No. 8 and No. 9— rise 35 and 54-storeys respectively, from a richly planted podium landscape. The buildings, designed by international architects SOM, offer new luxury riverside apartments and wellness facilities, including a 30-m long swimming pool, residents lounge and landscaped gardens. To the north-west of Nine Elms Square, a connected S-shaped building has been designed by Squire and Partners, while plot N7, at the very eastern gateway, is designed by Wilkinson Eyre.
SOM also designed the marketing suite and plot N6, which will be phase 2 of the project, at the north of the scheme.
Awards
- 2023 BALI National Landscape Award - Soft Landscaping Construction (non-domestic) - Over £500K
