A top Southwark councillor has told the developers of the borough’s biggest-ever building project to change their working hours so Canada Water residents don’t have to endure drilling noise and dust all day.
Cllr Stephanie Cryan, who is a ward councillor for Rotherhithe, where British Land is building the Canada Water masterplan, as well as the council’s cabinet member for social housing, said she had asked the giant developer to switch to a two hours on-two hours off working regime, to spare residents the frequent daytime piling noise that has caused them misery in recent months.
This work schedule is already in place on other parts of the masterplan.
Cllr Cryan said she was still very supportive of the overall project, but understood that this stage of the building work on the ‘A2’ site to the west of Canada Water Dock was “particularly noisy” for the people already living in the area.
“I know this is really disruptive for people,” she said. “I told [British Land] ‘look, you know, you need to [switch to a less disruptive schedule].’”
She urged local residents to get in touch with her, or her fellow Rotherhithe ward councillors Bill Williams and Kath Whittam.
“We can help them. If they are finding they can’t get through to British Land, they should come to us and we can raise these problems.”
A two hours on-two hours off plan has been put in place for the noisiest work on site, although other work is going on in the meantime. Builders Mace are looking at other ways to cut down the disruption.
Several residents of Hothfield Place, next to the A2 site, who are not council tenants, told the News earlier this month of the “almost unbelievable” disruption to their lives.
As well as the drilling noise, people on the street complained about the dust that made their houses like a “prison” and an incident when a machine malfunctioned, spraying muddy water over their back gardens.
British Land said previously that its “top priority is the health and safety of our employees and the communities where we work”.
The £3.3bn Canada Water Masterplan will see the transformation of 53 acres of Rotherhithe and Surrey Quays over fifteen years.
The colossal scheme, the largest in Southwark history, is set to create around 3,000 new homes, of which 35 per cent are affordable, as well as up to 20,000 new jobs and other community facilities.
The plan has been controversial, with some locals mounting an unsuccessful legal campaign to block the new works in 2020.