A Guide to Living in Nine Elms

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

4.34

Average Location Score

Excellent

51%

Very Good

33%

Average

14%

Disappointing

Very Poor

Best places to live in Nine Elms

HomeViews Top Rated Development ranking takes into account the Star Rating and HomeViews Transparency Rating of every development in the area

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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

Reviews in Nine Elms

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Embassy Gardens AVOID

Verified Resident

Review Date May 2021

Parking for guests – very poor and non existent.
Intrusive amount of noise from construction day and night.
Transport links are ok but could be better.
Constant traffic due to the mass amount of new developments. Road layout made traffic worse.
Constant anti-social behaviour and illegal activities e.g. drug use from residents which is ignored by management and staff.
Residents trashing areas – scratched lifts, broken lift buttons, smoking in hallways…
Staff turn a blind eye and when residents complain they don’t take things further to help those affected by these anti-social behaviours.
Staff and residents do not respect social distancing and do not wear masks – COVID not taken seriously whatsoever throughout pandemic. Large gatherings and parties have been facilitated throughout and staff turn a blind eye even when this is clearly illegal.
The construction of the flat is poor not worth the money.
Many inconsiderate residents.

Please review your development:

Facilities are dating and need improvement and fixing. Residents are not really involved in development mostly ignored.
Property management extremely poor.
Building management very poor.
Design and build of flat very poor not enough sound proofing. Things damage and break very easily.
The management are awful when you want something they are extremely unhelpful but when they need something from you they hound you. Have felt unsafe on many occasions due to illegal activities of residents and called management and was always ignored. I had to take matters into my own hands. This is shocking given the fact that this is luxury housing.
Cladding is same as Grenfell Tower – not safe – balcony’s are made of wood.

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

How much embassy gardens would change. Have lived there since the opening of the building.
The management are awful when you want something they are extremely unhelpful but when they need something from you they hound you.

If there is one thing you would change about your flat or property what would it be:

EVERYTHING. I am moving due to negligence and no peaceful enjoyment.

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Great vision but poor management

Verified Resident

Review Date May 2021

Nine elms is going through a massive transition. Currently surrounded by building sites but expect this to be much nicer in a few years time. Location is good which quick access to Pimlico and Chelsea and an initial set of fun restaurants and bars has opened.
However, residents are not kept up to date on changes to the area and a noisy playground was installed in front of Legacy Building which is heavily affecting residents who, due to poor sound isolation, hear children (and young adults) screaming all day and night.

Please review your development:

Facilities are great and luxurious and (most) concierge staff is very friendly. However, management of facilities and property management is poor. The facility booking system is not working properly and especially the gyms are not utilized as it is advertised. Very few classes with only a handful of trainers willing to teach (shout out to them!) and one gym is not utilized due to unpractical equipment.
Anticipated skypool is a Ballymore marketing pawn and residents are only allowed limited access.
Biggest issue is residential services who are not helpful at all and not capable for the job. Basic services need improvement (esp. window cleaning which in our case has never happened in the past 2 years) with Ballymore aftercare not much better, taking months to arrange a contractor visit to fix basic issues.
Updating the management of the various residential services (main manager, gym / leisure facilities, property maintenance etc) can really make a difference and would tremendously increase residents’ happiness!

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

There are affordable housing units in the development, be aware of their location

If there is one thing you would change about your flat or property what would it be:

Properly working heating / cooling, noise cancellation, closed off balcony floors, linear park development plans (i.e. children’s playground)

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Recommend to live

Verified Resident

Review Date Apr 2021

The area is developing rapidly. The more I live here the more bars, restaurants and other entertainment places there are.

Please review your development:

The design of the development is very modern unlike traditional English design. The range of facilities is fascinating, anything from cinema up to outside jacuzzi. Building management is always happy to help and attentive to your requests. Property management would differ from agency to agency, but more likely it will be good.

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

The tube station is a little bit of a walk from here, and it tends to be windy for most of the times.

What is the best feature of your home:

The apartment is brand new, no one has lived here before. It’s relatively high floor plus the furniture is nice.

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Legacy building occupier

Review Date Apr 2021

A calm sanctuary in the busy Nine Elms. Very high quality real estate that will come into its own when the sky pool opens.

Please review your development:

High quality buildings and facilities

The concierge service is great and adds to the quality look and feel

The only shame is the new children play area at the front of the Legacy buildings which make the area noisy and take away the calm environment that people are paying a lot of money for