A Guide to Living in Nine Elms

Name: Vista, SW8
Rating: 4.26

Welcome to Nine Elms, London’s most Cinderella-like transformation story to date. Covering a massive 227 hectares, this huge venture breathed new life into a South London riverside district. Infrastructure, transport, offices, education, entertainment, parks and thousands of new-build homes ; it’s all part of this colossal £15 billion regeneration scheme, with a focus on heritage and community at its heart. Read on to discover the developments that are the best places to live in Nine Elms, and also read reviews from residents who own or rent in Nine Elms.

“The Nine Elms neighbourhood is one of the most exciting redevelopment projects of recent years, once an urban wasteland criss-crossed by railways lines and dotted with factories and disused car parks, the transformation has been nothing short of extraordinary. And it’s a success story that many first-time buyers and investors want to buy into.” – HomeViews Researcher

4.36

Average Location Score

Excellent

51%

Very Good

34%

Average

13%

Disappointing

Very Poor

Top Rated Developments in Nine Elms

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Where is Nine Elms?

SW8, the capital’s pending destination du jour, spearheaded by multiple industry powerhouses. It stretches from Lambeth Bridge to Chelsea Bridge, sweeping across the Albert Embankment and Vauxhall. It encompasses the South Bank’s last remaining industrial portion, and looks across the river to the City of Westminster.

Some of the best places to live in Nine Elms

The United States Embassy relocated to Nine Elms from Westminster’s Grosvenor Square in 2017. Designed by Philadelphia-based firm, Kieran Timberlake, its 12-storey glass cube façade is now much better-placed for the Houses of Parliament. Also close by, is Ballymore’s hotly anticipated Embassy Gardens, now a blossoming residential neighbourhood in its own right, fusing luxury apartments with Huw Morgan-designed landscaping, and a string of high-end leisure facilities.

“The 25 metre Sky Pool is a world first, a crystal-clear acrylic pool suspended between two buildings at 10 storeys. Impressive? Most definitely. Practical? Well, the fact that our climate is often more Baltic than Californian means it’ll have a limited window of use, but there’s always the indoor pool that can used the remainder of the year.” – HomeViews Property Pro contributor on Embassy Gardens…

Rent in Nine Elms

Tech giant Apple is set to make the move to Nine Elms in 2021, rounding up some 1,400 employees from its current eight London offices. Its new flagship office will be on the revamped Battersea Power Station site – one of Nine Elms’ biggest phased projects. One of the world’s largest brick structures and it’s been empty for around 30 years. And now The Battersea Power Station Development Company is shaping the site and its surrounding land at lightning speed.

There are now more than 4,000 new homes here, along with countless commercial units, and a health and residents’ club. Also in the works, is a concert venue for 2,000 revellers, and a purpose-built high-street, dubbed ‘Electric Boulevard’. This will also be the setting for a brand-new linear park running from Battersea Power Station through to Vauxhall Cross.

“What is important about living in London, for me, is the environment and people you surround yourself with. Choosing to live at Battersea Power Station was about being part of somewhere iconic, being in a beautiful space, joining a community and surrounding myself with like-minded people.” – Stephanie, Battersea Power Station resident

Other notable new-build developments in Nine Elms include Dalian Wanda’s One Nine Elms (now sold to Guangzhou R&F Properties) – close to Vauxhall Station and completing in late 2019. This exclusive skyscraper scheme is part residential development, part luxury hotel – the five-star Wanda Vista. Nine Elms is also welcoming the unique Versace-designed DAMAC Tower to the area. Previously known as Aykon London One, this 50-storey shrine to opulence and elegance will complete in 2020.

Nine Elms’ transport transformation

The area’s entire transport network is being overhauled, with new bus services, a new river pier now in action at Battersea Power Station, and extensions to the Thames River path among the list of improvements. There’s a new Thames bridge on the way, too, which promises to link Nine Elms with Pimlico. At the core is the Northern line extension, which will create two new Zone 1 stations in 2020; and connect residents to the City in less than 15 minutes. The Nine Elms Point residential development, by Barratt Homes, comprises of 645 competitively-priced apartments right next to the planned Nine Elms station. As well as this, this development is one of the best places to live in Nine Elms.

Conveniently, Nine Elms Point is perched directly above an expansive Sainsburys flagship store, with other grocery options like Waitrose and Tesco Metro in walking distance too. The retail scene is a bit scarce at the moment but the regeneration will bring further growth in variety, as well as more restaurants and bars.” – Alycia Samsudin, Nine Elms Point viewer

All in all, Nine Elms’ dramatic transformation has the world watching. And to think it all began as a riverside path lined with nine elm trees…

You can find out more about renting in Nine Elms by reading reviews from residents. Click below to find out more about residents’ experiences and also to discover great places to rent in Nine Elms. If there’s a Nine Elms property that you can’t see on HomeViews, you can add a new listing and leave your review here.

Featured developments in Nine Elms

Greystar

4.32 (based on 5 reviews) 4.32 (5 reviews)

Berkeley Homes

4.26 (based on 21 reviews) 4.26 (21 reviews)

Reviews in Nine Elms

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Anything but straight forward

Verified Resident

Review Date Oct 2020

The bars and restaurants are great – we are missing a decent mainstream grocery store but Waitrose is not too far if you’re able to walk and carry groceries. Transport is obviously in development with TFL still to open the Northern Line extension otherwise buses are frequent.

Please review your development:

The design and facilities are high-spec but overall the space usage is poorly thought out. The gym is too small for the number of residents, there is too much dead ‘lounge’ space in areas where there’s no need for it whereas there’s not enough ‘garden’ space for the amount of people/dogs. Overall what lets the development down is the terrible comms and approach from management. Whilst the rest of the BPSE Phases are in development we’re completely in the dark as to what our fees are paying for – the heating and cooling charges in particular are akin to daylight robbery and are fixed by management. Tenants are unable to distinguish ‘maintenance’ from other charges and so end up paying for costs that landlords should be liable for. Regardless, the charges are sky high. If you’re looking at a property, disregard the space in the ‘winter garden’ – management do not permit you to use it for any meaningful purpose, it has no power supply and is either far too hot in the summer (no blinds!) or far too cold in the winter (no heat/power in there).

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

How useless the ‘winter garden’ space is – it’s a considerable square footage of the smaller apartments and totally useless due to management rules on no furniture (or anything but a plant, on a table) and no heating/shade in there.

What is the best feature of your home:

High-spec fittings, close access to good bars and restaurants

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BPS Review

Verified Resident

Review Date Oct 2020

The area is quite beautiful as it is right by the Thames river and Battersea Park. However, crossing Chelsea bridge during rush hour is difficult,

Please review your development:

The development is very new, modern, and you can find almost everything you need close by. The gym and poll are top class (hotel level), and the community is lively. The hallway is cleaned regularly, and the only downside is that we are close to a construction site.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

I wish I had known that the Chelsea bridge was crowded during rush hour.

What is the best feature of your home:

Modern, sophisticated and has everything you need.

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Hugely Impressive Development, let down by poor Management

Verified Resident

Review Date Oct 2020

This iconic developement has 6 phases in the pipeline, 1 already complete, boasting over half a dozen restaurants, bars, theatre, cinema and other amenities. There’s already a good community spirit and residents can make use of private restaurant, gym, pool, spa, conference room, concierge service, parking, etc. Transport links are good – Victoria is 10 minutes walk away, Sloane Square 15 minutes, and this will be improved when the new underground station is built here. So there are plenty of things to enjoy, although sometimes it is noisy with the construction work and such a large community of people living here.

Please review your development:

The building that currently stands is Phase 1, with impressive views of the river and the power station, which along with the other phases are currently under construction. Apartments are modern and well designed, and there are some good facilities on offer for residents, however, there have been snagging issues. This along with an Estate Management who serve the investors not the residents means that when things go wrong it is very difficult to get someone to take responsiblity to fix it.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

The heating and cooling system is its own energy centre, sadly it has been unreliable and is expensive for residents

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

Savills took over the Estate Managment circa a year ago and made a poor situation much worse – they are incredibly difficult to communicate with and show no accountability to the people they should be looking after. Which is a real shame as the place has massive potential. When you do raise issues they often ignore them or try to suggest its not their problem, when clearly they are building or design defects on a new hi tech property which shouldn’t occur.

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Happy to live here

Verified Resident

Review Date Oct 2020

I found out cleanliness – frequently cleaning, good visible security.When The tube opens it will be easier for accessing everywhere. Walking in neighborhood is also good. Next to park and beside the river.

Please review your development:

At the moment, there are still lot of construction around the area. Actually that’s not good as you can see it from the apartment. The apartment public area is clean and tidy. Management is done well too. It’s easy to contact them using app or email.