This summer marks 75 years of the Royal Festival Hall. Throughout this time, the South Bank has evolved to become the cultural and creative epicentre of London. At Native Land we have long understood the draw of the South Bank and its importance in London, demonstrated through our Neo Bankside development and now Bankside Yards.
The Standard has spotlighted how in today’s market, the unique appeal of the area is clear to see, with developers drawn to the riverside destination, thanks to increasingly high demand in the last five years for mixed-use, residential and office developments on the South Bank.
Offering a prime position banking the River Thames, excellent connectivity across the rest of the capital and access to what many consider the UK’s greatest cultural institutions, including the Southbank Centre, the Hayward Gallery, Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre to name a few, it’s easy to see the appeal of the South Bank for investors and buyers across the office and residential markets. Knight Frank recently shared how the South Bank has evolved to become a prime residential address since the early 2000s, a transition which Native Land helped to shape with Neo Bankside. As we develop Bankside Yards, we understand the importance of celebrating the cultural destinations that sit alongside the mixed-use development, as well as adding to the area’s offering.
Nicholas Gray, Executive Director at Native Land, highlighted this consideration at Bankside Yards:
“At Bankside Yards we’re delivering an entire ecosystem of wellness, workspaces, cultural programming and green spaces as well as homes, all designed to sit naturally alongside the South Bank’s community and existing cultural institutions”.
This vision is already taking shape. Multi-award-winning Arbor is the first building to be completed at Bankside Yards, comprising 222,252 sq. ft of flexible workspace over 19 floors. At the start of May, ANDY EARL X Bankside Yards opened in the historic railway arches that have previously been closed to the public for 150 years. The exhibition showcases the acclaimed photographer’s work, including a portrait of Sir David Attenborough. Open for the next three months, the opening marks first chapter of a wider cultural programme embedded within the historic fabric of Bankside Yards.
Once complete, Bankside Yards, will span eight buildings, including the residential tower Opus and Mandarin Oriental hotel – it will be the UK’s first major mixed-use fossil fuel-free development in operation. Beyond its scale and sustainability credentials, its ambition is to enhance the rich cultural ecosystem that defines the South Bank, so this continues for decades to come.
Read more via The Standard, here.
