Charlton Riverside Employment and Heritage Study

Revealing existing employment and heritage in a Thames-side regeneration area

The Charlton Riverside Employment and Heritage Study provides a granular understanding of the types of businesses, buildings and jobs that make Charlton Riverside a uniquely productive place. This evidence is combined with detailed insights into the area’s heritage of ropemaking, tram sheds and boatyards.

Charlton Riverside has long been a site of production and employment, supporting an historic industrial hub and now serving the needs of a growing capital city. Today the area continues to support clusters of industrial, creative and retail activity and employment in London. This study takes a closer look at the type of businesses, buildings and jobs that make Charlton Riverside a productive place.

In 2017, Charlton Riverside was home to almost 350 businesses, which together provide around 5,600 jobs.

Conducted for the Royal Borough of Greenwich, this detailed examination of the local economy and heritage assets in Charlton informed the development of the emerging Charlton Riverside Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) in the context of Charlton's designation as an Opportunity Area identified for mixed-use development in the London Plan.

Through both quantitative and qualitative research methods, this study informed strategies for intensification and growth and supported sustainable regeneration. It also revealed opportunities and constraints related to heritage might influence forthcoming masterplanning.

“Both in terms of prevalent sector activities (services, retail, creative) and of workspace typologies (smaller units), the employment profile of Charlton Riverside suggests that many current uses are ‘mix-able’ – more so than other key industrial location.”

Charlton Riverside’s heritage assets should be flagship sites for employment in the area. Currently, heritage assets along the eastern edge of the study site are accommodating a vibrant range of employment activities, often mixed within individual buildings. The character of these buildings, their flexibility to accommodate a range of uses and the current mix of manufacturing, creative, food & drink and services offer a clear precedent in terms of a natural employment hubs.