Thames City, Nine Elms Square

Vauxhall, London

Thames City, Nine Elms Square
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
View project intro

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

"The opening of the park within Thames City marks an importance milestone for the Nine Elms masterplan, linking the Nine Elms Linear Park to Vauxhall. We worked with R&F and Wandsworth Council to ensure this section of the park provides much-needed open space and amenities. For the first time, local residents, workers and visitors to the area will be able to enter large swathes of green open space directly from the east to enjoy the open lawn, sweeping garden terraces, relaxing walks and playspaces. At the same time, the park offers a rich tapestry of plant communities and habitats for wildlife that, in time, will stretch from Vauxhall bridge to Battersea Power Station."

Armel Mourgue, Partner at Gillespies

"Green and open spaces are essential to the fabric of our communities. Named in homage to the nine iconic elm trees that bordered the area’s main road, the Nine Elms district has undergone dramatic transformation from being a riverside marshland dotted with windmills to a cluster of vibrant market gardens and, today, a bustling community in the city centre. We are committed to Nine Elms and have made a significant investment to ensure a greener future for the area with. vegetation, green and blue spaces all adding to and improving the biodiversity of our urban environments."

Guan Zhixiong, Chairman of R&F Properties (UK)