A new build boom in London’s latest investment hotspot
Camberwell is a south London district superbly located just 2.5 miles from the South Bank and 3 miles from the City. It’s close to London’s major employment areas alongside plenty of its leisure destinations too. With great transport links Camberwell is becoming a trendy place to live among young professionals. This is also due to the growing desirability of its now fashionable neighbours Brixton and Peckham.
Camberwell currently has eight new housing projects underway. Camberwell Fields is the largest and it contains 161 new homes being constructed in two phases. Containing a range of one and two bedroom apartments and two and three bedroom duplexes, each with their own balcony or patio. There is also a collection of exclusive three bedroom town-houses, each with a private garden. This new development has a friendly and contemporary feel and is just across the street from Burgess Park, one of south London’s biggest open spaces.
Properties in Camberwell saw a healthy rise of 20% in the last year, marginally less than the average for Southwark Borough as a whole, which is London’s 7th most expensive borough, unsurprising with its central position.
Over the coming three years, some £1m of funds will be targeted at supporting local business to grow and expand in Camberwell and the surrounding town centres and high streets.
Camberwell has benefited from a new Overground station at Denmark Hill which has improved links to east London and the City. In 2014 there was a public consultation to extend the Bakerloo line. Two options were suggested; the chosen route is due to be announced later in 2016, with the commencement of work on the chosen route to start in 2025 for completion around 2030.
Strong support existed for the option via Camberwell and Peckham Rye (64% support), and over 50% of those respondents gave the reasons of poor connectivity and existing congestion on roads and public transport.
In 2015, then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “An extension of the Bakerloo line will provide a vital new transport link for the people of south London and help to spur jobs, new homes and regeneration in this part of the Capital. It is fantastic that so many people are in support of the plans and I am determined to push ahead with them at pace.”
At that time the Mayor looked set to favour the route via Old Kent Road rather than through Camberwell. Either way, the plan to designate the Old Kent Road as an Opportunity Area will have a regenerating effect on Camberwell.
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Economy & Employment
Due to its great location, a significant number of residents from Camberwell are city workers as the excellent rail and bus routes lend themselves to speedy commuting.
Southwark is well known for its press and publishing companies, with the Financial Times, IPC Magazines, The Daily Mail and Evening Standard Newspapers all having their HQ in the borough.
Theatres, museums and the arts are also represented on a larger than average scale in Camberwell and throughout the borough as a whole, making for a diverse economy in the area.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Lawrence Graham and Norton Rose are among major professional services with headquarters here.
Additionally, the extension from the tube line to include Denmark Hill, linking to the East London Line incorporating Whitechapel and Shoreditch is making these areas connections even better for the residents.
Investment
Five main areas are targeted:
Library and plaza – an improved public space and a new library with larger children’s area, more space for study, books and media and computers for public use.
Green – a redesigned park to include new play space, areas to sit and enjoy the surroundings and to reinforce the role of the Green as a town centre public space.
Streets – an initiative to improve the quality of the streets and links with the town centre, surrounding residential areas and the Green.
Pocket spaces – there are several public spaces that have been highlighted which could be used to enable Camberwell town centre to function more effectively.
SPD – is to provide detailed planning guidance and information for the Camberwell Community Council area for the next 15 years
There are a few small scales new building projects underway in Camberwell. By far the largest is the Camberwell Fields project of 161 new dwellings of various sizes across the demographics.
TfL has published a consultation for the Bakerloo line extension and it’s creating quite a buzz. Camberwell is being labelled as a new property investment zone, even if the Tube doesn’t come to the area directly it stands to benefit immensely.
Transport
Air: London City Airport is the nearest to serve Camberwell, being 9.3 miles away but Gatwick and Heathrow are also easy to reach via the transport network.
Bus: Camberwell has fifteen bus routes going in every direction, making Peckham, New Cross, Kennington, Dulwich, Nunhead, Forest Hill, Waterloo, Elephant and Castle, London Bridge and the City all reachable with ease. It is located in travel zone 2.
Trains: from Denmark Hill go regularly to Victoria (12 minutes) and Blackfriars (14 minutes) and St. Pancras (23 minutes), making it an ideal area for commuting.
Road: The A202 crosses through Camberwell in roughly an east/west orientation to Vauxhall Bridge to the west leading over the Thames, and in the easterly direction takes you towards Greenwich. The A215 runs roughly north/south to the Thames to the north and southwards to Dulwich.
Education
Camberwell has an excellent choice of state primary schools. John Ruskin (Ruskin Street), Brunswick Park (Picton Street), Crawford (Crawford Road) and St. John the Divine C of E (Warham Street) all have outstanding Ofsted reports. Further afield in the Borough of Southwark there are 9 special schools 10 independent schools and 3 independent special schools.
Notable schools include The Sacred Heart Catholic School, an outstanding co-educational school for 11 to 18-year-olds. In recent years it has ranked number two in the country out of over 3,000 schools on the Jesson scale, which is based on the progress made by pupils at GCSE in comparison to Key Stage 2 results on entry. Just 2.5 miles south of Camberwell is the prestigious Dulwich College. It currently has about 1,500 boys, of whom 120 are borders thus making it one of the largest (in terms of numbers) independent schools in the UK.
Further Education & Higher Education: Just over three miles east is Lewisham Southwark College, which provides the FE in the borough.
London South Bank University (LSBU) at its Elephant and Castle site has over 23,000 students. The University of the Arts London has two colleges in Southwark Borough, The London College of Communication and The Camberwell College of Arts. King’s College London, has the largest university teaching hospital in Europe at nearby Guy’s Hospital.
Shops & Leisure
Shopping & Dining: The main shopping for the area is usually undertaken at the nearby Elephant and Castle, however with the ongoing regeneration in Camberwell, quality shops are now springing up and there are plenty in the way of the usual high street stores. Somerfield’s and Morrison’s are the local supermarkets. The Black Sheep is the local Gastro Pub and the Vineyard Greek Restaurant is a popular local restaurant that has been trading for years.
Leisure & Entertainment: The Elephant and Castle centre include bingo and bowling alongside shopping. Camberwell includes a number of charming pubs home to an arty crowd with a taste for ale, wine and conversation. The George Canning is a fine example of this. Denmark Hill station houses the Phoenix Pub, popular for a plethora of fine ales. Trendy bars line Camberwell Church Street, running through towards Peckham. Many of these bars operate a late licence on weekends and run club style events.
Green Spaces: Camberwell Green itself is central to all of Camberwell life. In addition, Ruskin Park with plenty of seating places is great place to meet and is popular with dog walkers, it is a short walk from Denmark Hill Station. Burgess Park and Kennington Park, are both located on the way out of Camberwell towards central London.
