This neighbourhood is anchored around the beautiful Stave Hill Ecological Park in Southwark, south London. Residents get plenty of use from the park and can be often found picnicking and jogging through the lush green space. Although it has a unique industrial past as a dockland site, the park is now home to a wide array of wildlife. If walking through, you’ll likely see rare breeds of ducks, butterflies, and hedgehogs. While the area can feel a bit quiet at times, locals are spoiled with a plethora of affordable housing options. Between the tall blocks of council flats and the smaller post-war brick houses, families looking for less expensive homes have happily traded in their period houses in central London for these ones. With events taking place most nights and weekends at Bacon’s College, as well as plenty of nearby bustling neighbourhoods like Canada Water, it’s easy to see why residents have chosen to make the move.

Stave Hill Ecological Park was originally a site of marshland by the UK’s main timber port, Surrey Docks. From the 1860s up until the 1970s, much of this land was filled with domestic waste, rubble and subsoil. In the 1980s, the London Docklands Development Corporation took over the site so as to lead a major regeneration project. In order to turn this specific site into a more interesting park, they created an artificial hill alongside Russia Dock Woodland. This elevation has helped give parkgoers an interesting view while enjoying the outdoor space.

There is a shed in Stave Hill that was built with paving stones from Trafalgar Square. Beyond this, it was also partially constructed with wood from old London railway tracks!

Unfortunately, this part of the neighbourhood doesn’t have much of a high street or business district meaning that there are few convenient shops or eateries. Still, residents feel that their proximity to the park is worth the short walk to Canada Water for food.

This neighbourhood is in the process of undergoing major changes. Through the Canada Water Masterplan, many sites are going to see huge transformations in the coming years. One of these includes the K1 development that will sit nestled in this part of the neighbourhood and be fully residential. The council is also supporting plans for the redevelopment of the Rotherhithe gasometer on Slater Road as many similar industrial sites have been transformed across London in recent years.