Insights: Three great ways to invest in a community so everyone benefits

Helping create vibrant communities is key to business success, benefiting everyone including local residents, employees and corporates as well as investors and developers.

The right development in the right place will offer plenty of opportunities to make a positive difference to communities, say leading agents Alistair Brown, Head of UK Leasing at Cushman & Wakefield and Richard Howard, Executive Director at CBRE. Developments provide training and employment opportunities in the short term, as well as further jobs, retail and amenity in the longer term. Here they explain how businesses can select an office location to create the best outcome for everyone:

Investors and occupiers are looking to play an impactful part in helping enhance areas that already have established communities, says Howard.  Real estate provides an excellent opportunity to promote a businesses social engagement, a key part of ESG.

“A lot of London doesn’t have that authenticity,” he says. “Whereas in the area in Rotherhithe around Dockside, you do feel like you’re part of an authentic part of London, and not just in a concrete building in the middle of town with not much community around it. Dockside has a certain appeal because it allows companies to be able to integrate and help with education and employment.” 

“This was part of the success of the King’s Cross regeneration story, being part of that whole community in Somers Town,” says Howard. “And there is definitely the opportunity to do that here.” 

“There are other things that excite but the ability to make a positive difference in an area is appealing.  It is not just painting playgrounds but properly integrating which is something companies would really like to do.”

It’s not just the location that enables meaningful integration into the community, the architecture of office buildings can foster this too, by offering facilities for local residents and visitors as well as occupants, and promoting interaction between them. 

Both landmark buildings at Dockside Canada Water are designed to foster the wellbeing of both internal and external communities.

One Dockside is the vision of Bjarke Ingels Group, whose founder Bjarke Ingels is invested in a ‘people-first’ approach and explains that the work environments should facilitate interaction to encourage people to share knowledge and spark ideas. The ground floor here boasts shops, bars, markets and a winter garden that promote connection and the generous terraces on each of the five floors create outdoor spaces with inspiring views to encourage creativity. 

Architects HWKN was behind the community-focussed design of Two Dockside. “We’re designing the next generation of office building,” says the firm’s founder Matthias Hollwich of the building. “Joyful spaces, the highest standards of sustainability and a renewed sense of community that enables people to feel and be their best.” Below, the building is home to retail spaces designed for both staff and community. Internal spaces are designed for connection too, with terraces and a double-height rooftop space where colleagues can socialise and enjoy spectacular views. 

Both buildings invite the community in thanks to the open space underneath them. The areas are designed to facilitate natural connections between public and private, by housing bars, cafés, restaurants, shops, markets and coworking spaces. 

As Luka Vukotic, Head of Development, Art Invest puts it: “Our aim with the ground floor at Dockside is to blur boundaries and create welcoming and democratic space that is connected to its environment and the wider community.”

“It’s really important that these buildings, and the businesses that come into these buildings, are seen to be open rather than closed off from the environment around them.  The architecture allows that openness at ground floor.’ says Brown. 

“It brings in the community with restaurants, bars and cafes and the open lobby area. Any occupier that wants to benefit from the social impact of coming to a location like this is going to want to integrate with the local community to be a part of it rather than to feel as if they’re coming in to push people out.  This wouldn’t be in keeping with the ethos of the location,” says Brown. “Historically a lot of office buildings have been designed to keep people out. These buildings are designed to welcome people in.” 

Meanwhile, the public realm at Dockside has been conceived by Townshend Landscape Architects and award-winning garden designer Andy Sturgeon on behalf of both Art-Invest and British Land to create an inviting and healthy ‘campus’ for the community that enhances people’s health and wellbeing. 

Being able to offer meaningful integration into the local community isn’t just about ticking boxes for corporate social responsibility, it’s also about your employees feeling at home in the area. 

“The opportunities at Canada Water are appealing from a corporate brand point of view but it’s also a more interesting story for individuals, to be a part of a different location, more integrated with the community,” says Brown. “Here, employees can have a life before and after work, be it with sailing lessons or going out for a run. It just offers something which is slightly different, and that isn’t just for the corporate brand, but also for the individual.”

—-

At Dockside Canada Water, we recognise the value of contributing meaningfully to our local community, and invest not just in improvements to the public realm but in our partnerships with local initiatives, including sports clubs and primary schools in this already-vibrant community. We’re committed to helping make the Rotherhithe Peninsula an even more inviting place to live, work and spend free time, because we know everyone will benefit.