Southern Grove unveils £55m mixed-use student scheme

By Bridging Loan Directory 10th August 2021

Developer Southern Grove Group today unveils a £55million mixed-use student accommodation scheme for London’s Hackney Wick that will help turn the area into one of the most vibrant off-campus communities in London.

The Broadwood Piano Works will create over 200 bedrooms on Fish Island with co-working facilities, a gym and space for pop-ups and creative workshops.

Southern Grove’s joint venture sister company, the PBSA specialist Future Generation, is already responsible for The Vogue, a 330-bed mixed-use student scheme which sits on the adjacent site.

The Broadwood Piano Works will be built as a second phase and will complement The Vogue, creating a vibrant destination for students in a growing community within East London.

The Vogue already has planning consent and is currently under construction.

The Broadwood Piano Works will seal the area’s future as the youthful, cosmopolitan beating heart of Hackney Wick’s cultural scene, and will be just a short stroll from at least five world-famous institutions.

The site, acquired this month, is less than five minutes’ walk from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (QEOP). Just the other side of the park is the University of East London (UEL) campus in Stratford, while Queen Mary University of London sits just to the south-west of Fish Island in Mile End.

Even closer are Loughborough University London’s postgraduate campus and UCL’s East Campus, which are sited within the Olympic Park.

That’s also where the London College of Fashion (University of the Arts London) will be moving. Its new campus, currently under development, will bring together its six existing sites in one place for the first time in its 120-year history.

The Broadwood Piano Works has been designed by architects Henley Halebrown, who also designed The Vogue. It will incorporate 2,500 sqm of commercial space — meaning no loss of existing provision — and retain the heritage chimney and boiler house that formed part of the John Broadwood & Sons piano factory, which earlier occupied the site.

Planning permission will be sought from the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC). Development agent Tom Brain, of Hillstone Group, acted for Southern Grove in helping to obtain the site.

Wider development is also being undertaken at scale locally. More than 1,800 new homes are planned for two new communities called East Wick and Sweetwater in the Olympic Park, alongside shops, schools and community facilities.

The public realm around Hackney Wick station is also being regenerated, with the addition of nearly 200 new homes.

Tom Slingsby, CEO of Southern Grove Group, commented:

“Hackney Wick is one of the most rapidly regenerating areas of London, and The Vogue and The Broadwood Piano Works are very much going to be a part of that.

The first and second phases will come together to create one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse communities of students in the capital, a melting pot of different disciplines and interests.

The two schemes will provide a mix of uses to an area that represents one of the most vibrant growth opportunities in London, and one which will continue to attract high levels of investment like our own.

We’ve enjoyed working closely with the LLDC. The phenomenal pace of the wider development that will take place in Hackney Wick over the next few years will also deliver residents and visitors fantastic opportunities.

The whole area is being gradually transformed into one of the capital’s key destination districts through positive planning and superb architecture.”