Essential Living’s Creekside Wharf development has won the Project Award for a Private Rented Sector Development at the Housing Design Awards.
The award recognised the innovative design, amenity space, and the public realm and discount market rent offer at the scheme, which was designed by Assael Architecture.
On the night, the judges commended Creekside Wharf as the first time a private rented sector (PRS) entry had truly encapsulated the ethos behind build to rent.
The panel also praised the architecture of the building, saying: "The real changes are to be found inside the scheme; these are the first apartments to be designed with families as their target market.”
Creekside Wharf is a 249-home scheme next to Deptford Creek. It features the first block designed exclusively for family renters, with wider corridors, buggy storage and acoustic insulation – all of which were applauded by the judging panel.
The discount market rent (DMR) offer was also noted by the judges. A quarter of the homes at Creekside Wharf will be at DMR and these will be ‘pepper-potted’ throughout the project with the same access and to the same standard as those at market rent.
When Creekside Wharf received planning permission in July 2015, Greenwich council leader Denise Hyland told the committee: “The scheme is highly imaginative and I wish it every success. I’m very impressed with the affordable offer and this is overall an innovative scheme.”
The Housing Design Awards are the longest running awards programme in the country, having been launched in 1948 as a government initiative to promote well-designed and healthy homes.
The panel was made up of leading industry and public sector figures from RICS, RIBA, the GLA and the Department for Communities and Local Government, among others.
Creekside Wharf, due to be completed in 2017, is part of Essential Living’s pipeline of 5,000 homes for rent across London and the South East.
The company’s first scheme to open is Vantage Point, a redevelopment of the iconic Archway Tower located immediately above Archway underground station. The 118-unit scheme will launch on the weekend of the 30th of July with residents moving in from 1 September.