Native Land raises the bar for quality with beautiful craftsmanship
Talking to developer Native Land, it has become clear that the word 'luxury' when used to describe high-end developments in London, is not really the right term and in some senses the story of quality build has not been told correctly in the media.
Sales and Marketing Director, Nick Gray came to our third Future Cities Forum to voice a more nuanced understanding of how Native Land's development projects have been creating better living environments, more social housing and supporting public art.
Native Land is an internationally recognised property development and investment company specialising in high quality residential and mixed use developments in central London and Nick was keen to talk about the standard of craftsmanship seen in their projects. His preferred discussion has a focus on the words, 'fresh', 'understated' and 'discretion'.
Watch Nick's viewpoint here:
However, in partnership with the capital's Housing Associations, Native Land has also delivered and made contributions to the development of 185 mixed tenure affordable homes across London with 97 more in the pipeline. It has made £11 million in contributions to the London Borough of Southwark alone and there is a further development of £6 million for social housing for Westminster City Council in its' Mayfair development, Burlington Gate.
Cheyne Terrace, a 26 private apartment development in Chelsea incorporates 13 on-site affordable homes which have been transferred to the Peabody Housing Trust. Adam Preece, Principal Development Manager at Peabody stated: 'Cheyne Terrace is a great example of a project providing much needed social rented housing to an area currently witnessing high demand and a low supply of affordable homes'.
Public realm landscaping at NEO Bankside
Native Land is most concerned to address impacts from development and its buildings incorporate sustainability through green roofs, rainwater collection and ground sourced heating and cooling systems. NEO Bankside (featured above) uses the UK's deepest energy piles that form an integral part of the heating and cooling systems for the apartments within the developments.
This development has received four awards for its distinctive landscaping. Recognition at the International Property Awards and two gold awards at the New Homes and Gardens Awards comes after creating richly detailed garden spaces, including aspen and birch linear groves of trees inspired by native woodland in partnership with Grosvenor. Seasonal fruit trees, bee hives and a well stocked herb garden, designed by Gillespies, helps to define public routes through the development linking Bankside to Tate Modern during the daytime.
Public art by Emily Young at Native Land's NEO Bankside
Native Land is also known for its inclusion of public art in developments. At 10 Montrose Place between Belgrave Square and Grosvenor Place, again in partnership with Grosvenor, world renowned land artist, Andy Goldsworthy has been commissioned for the first time in the UK to create a permanent world of art called 'Slate Wall' which forms the focal point of the exterior of the development.
Such is Native Land's commitment to art that they will soon be developing Cork Street as a revitalised contemporary art hub.