Sport for life, not just for summer

The Olympics is coming, and what’s not to get excited about? It’s a chance to be inspired by those who have dedicated their lives to athletics, swimming, gymnastics, sailing, skateboarding, tennis and so many other activities, and we expect to see a significant increase in those interested in getting active as a result. Major sporting events are an ever-reliable catalyst for getting people moving en masse — 2023’s cycling event Le Tour reached nearly 150 million viewers in Europe and one billion people are expected to watch the Paris Olympics, with 326,000 set to be there in person — and the impacts of these types of landmark events speak for themselves.

According to new figures released by the organisers, a world record-breaking 840,318 people from the UK and across the globe applied in the public ballot for an entry to next year’s TCS London Marathon — the route of which runs behind Canada Water’s Dock X — following this year’s edition, and, as reported by Forbes, in Google Trends, the term “climbing” reached its highest popularity of the last five years between 1st and 7th August, 2021, with the Olympics men’s and women’s combined events held between 3rd and 6th August. The question we’re looking to change the answer to is what happens next?

It’s not always easy to maintain healthy habits that keep us active. In 2023, data from finder.com revealed that consumers in the US wasted $397m on unused gym memberships. The numbers are shocking, but we’ve all done it, whether it’s investing in running shoes that never see the pavement, or swimming three times a week for a month and then abandoning the pool for good. Subsequently, at Dockside Canada Water, we’re developing a workspace destination that is built on the principle of making more active lifestyles easier to cultivate and maintain — offering sport and access to recreation as a way of life, not a fleeting hobby. Our neighbour British Land is delivering an impressive new leisure centre at Canada Water, while architectural and landscaping interventions from BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, HWKN and Townshend Landscape Architects are set to include easy-to-access safe bike paths and storage, as well as climbing walls and spaces for outdoor relaxation that are woven seamlessly into the stitch of the everyday work-life routine. When it comes to the areas surrounding Dockside, London’s impressive waterways and green corridors offer outstanding opportunities to row, swim, walk, run and more in lovingly conserved and cared for green and blue areas, with Canada Water’s history rooted in access to the Thames and network of former docks and nature areas that accompany it. 

Art-Invest Real Estate — the developer behind Dockside — is committed to ensuring that the buildings and outdoor spaces it creates provide genuinely valuable contributions to the local landscape that are effective in supporting the healthier lifestyles of those living and working in the area. As such, we partnered with British Land, Ryder and Future Places Studio to undertake research that forms a report titled Sport & The City, which examines how urban location can generate greater social value by enabling everyday access to sport. The two-part report includes insights from a number of key experts, including representatives from a variety of London-based community and sports groups, London Borough of Southwark, Urban Place Network, Decathlon, and London Sport.

The report identified that a new framework is needed for change, built on integrating sport into the city. These four principles should be used as a toolkit for change, informing how local communities, developers, architects and local governments can integrate sport into our cities in a way that is fun, inclusive and democratic:

1. Vision-led and holistic: Sport should sit at the heart of a holistic and evolving place-based vision connecting existing communities, future users and visitors.
2. Varied and climate-resilient: Cities should ensure they provide a varied offer of sports facilities and clubs that reflects the rich diversity of the population, is a mix of informal and formal facilities, and is designed with the effects of climate change in mind.
3. Creative and on-show: Urban places and spaces should pioneer creative approaches to how they integrate sport and physical activity into the everyday.
4. Connected and inclusive: Sports facilities of all shapes and sizes should be ‘wellbeing anchors’ that inform a local urban design that is inclusive, walkable, connected and green.

By constructing our workspace infrastructures with this framework forming a key pillar of Dockside’s foundations, we aim to support people in getting active and staying active as we aspire to become the healthiest workspace campus in London.

Find out more about the opportunities we are creating for sport and fitness here.