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

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.

4.44

Average Location Score

Excellent

52%

Very Good

36%

Average

11%

Disappointing

Very Poor

Top Rated Developments in Nine Elms

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Featured developments in Nine Elms

Greystar

0.00 Rating (based on 0 reviews) 0 reviews

Berkeley Homes

4.26 Rating (based on 21 reviews) 21 reviews

Reviews in Nine Elms

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Great

Verified Resident

Im not sure why this development is being compared to other nearby developments. The housing association properties are certainly to a better standard than the properties at embassy gardens, and unlike Riverlight Quay or Embassy Gardens the private properties at Battersea Exchange are cheaper, offer better views, (there are no tall blocks on site affecting views unlike embassy gardens) and are right next to Battersea park and Queenstown road stations, at the other two sites you will need a bus to access the rail stations or face a long walk. Presently I can walk out of my apartment and find myself in Victoria in less than 10 minutes, perfect for commuting. Battersea park is 2 mins around the corner perfect for picnics and days out, and Sloane square and clapham junction are literally minutes away by bus and train. A sainsburys local is due to open on site soon but best of all my daughter literally steps out of our apartment and straight into St Mary’s school, which is part of the development and recently opened up a beautiful advent community event linking major nine elms sites and offered free festivities.
There is a largish tesco nearby and a large waitrose 10-15 minute walk away. There is also a very large sainsburys in nine elms which is not far away from the abs of course the wonderful circus west village based at Battersea power station, with a host of restaurants shops and always has events on such as Christmas markets festivals and other activities, not to mention a pier served by thames clippers.
The complex itself is tastefully done with careful restoration work to railway arches whilst keeping their original character. The only unfortunate thing is if you live higher up you can see graffiti on the railway which has nothing to do with the development but is an eyesore nonetheless as are the imposing 1960s square blocks of the Doddington Estate.
You may also find a wonderful array of great eateries and restaurants on the Battersea park road, such as captain Correllis a shabby but extremely authentic Italian restaurant and Cafe, boqueria {Spanish tapas), San Gennaro pizzeria, or highly rated takeaways such as Pho Ta Vietnamese, independent coffee shops serving great food, a pizza place and a fish and chip shop for and a fantastically refurbished gastro pub basically on site, (The Mason’s Arms)
Noise from the railways are non existent with the doors closed and you can hardly hear them with the doors open as the lines are so close to the station the trains are slowed right down. Noise from the football pitches are minimal and there is free parking located 3 minutes walk away on stewarts road or all day after 12pm opposite the dogs home.

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Housing association flats are made to a different and lesser standard to private flats and are much smaller, however they are cheaper to rent at about £265 a week, however this is very high compared to other housing association properties around London. Having visited a few apartments I’ve noticed they are are often awkwardly shaped with no thought to where television or sofas are going to be placed, however saying that the facilities provided are good, balcony decking, doors and windows, and blinds, ample kitchen cupboard space, underfloor heating, lino instead of carpet which is easier to clean than carpet heated towel rail, bathroom mirror and small utility cupboard to fit in a washer dryer . Of course, fittings such as oven fridge breakfast bar and full height style tiles were not included and bathrooms are decked in plain white tile. There has also been issues of flooding behind the walls in several properties and the apartments get very hot during the summer due to the triple glazing, however the heating rarely gets put on during the winter saving money.
Residents are generally good but sometimes litter has been left in the lift and as HA tenants can’t use concierge facilities parcels are often left in the communal entry area. Sometimes people taking bins out has resulted in smelly liquid being left in the lift and trailing out the door however this is not often. Community is good unlike comments made by private tenants above most residents have got to know each other especially those with children attending st mary’s school downstairs. Balconies also have windows on them which is a good safety feature for those with children and all windows in apartments are lockable. Paragon housing association which manages the flats are hit and miss but often good and problems can also be reported to savills as they still manage the block
A colorful light tribute to the tram lines which once adorned the grounds has been installed in the arch going out onto Queenstown road. Bike store is good.
Children’s play areas are minimal however, a strange raised grass v verge and the area outside of it is touted as a play space however it is also an unofficial road and takeaway motorbikes zoom up and down the development all times of the day and night delivering food which is dangerous. The communal gardens aren’t maintained well when a tree was felled due to strong wings it wasn’t replaced and the space where it once was looks sparce in its absence. Some grasses flowers and bushes would look beautiful but instead there is just plain soil with a scattering of plant life.
The design outside mercer house also turns it into a wind tunnel even in light winds and this should have been taken into account during the design stage, the small trees planted suffer greatly during the winds, it would have been better to plant bigger trees with more bush as aesthetically they look better and can stand the wind more. The other trees on site seem to be a bit bare, and have not taken to their new homes.

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

Nothing as I’ve always known the local area since a child

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Nightmare at Battersea

Verified Resident

The area is constantly changing, there are some real nice developments being built. Battersea Exchange is not one of them. The street pollution is a growing problem mostly rubbish left by non residents. The council does not seem to care.

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The prices at this development may be cheaper than other developments in the area but that is for a good reason. There are many construction related design issues, the building standards are lower here.

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

No street parking permits offered by the council for the residents of this building, except social housing residents which make up 1/3 of the units. The football pitches near the buildings are always full, they make a lot of noise even later in the evening. The flats were not designed to allow central AC system to be put in place and they do not allow any changes to the outside of the flat, even for HVAC unit.

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

The building management is a nightmare. The concierge is trying to cope with Amazon packages for 290 units as well as constantly faulty communal utilities. They get very little support from Savills or Taylor Wimpey. The development did not have central hot water for days this week and that is not the 4 times this year.. There is blame game between Taylor Wimpey and the building manager, Savills.

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Convenient

Great area, wide range of supermarkets and close to transport links in and out of London. Don’t think there are any dislikes.

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Having lived here for numerous years I have found that this development is perfect to get in and out of the city quickly. Great location with all the right things near by – supermarkets, restaurants and transport. The concierge is always open and willing to help. One negative is that the lifts always break in my building. Being on a low floor it’s not too bad, however those any higher I can imagine this being a complete nightmare.

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

Lifts are very important, once they break it’s very irritating.

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Good place

I like how everything from the train station to the shops is close by.

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The design is fantastic and i like the interior which is very modern. The space however is a little too small for its value however. But the management are a fantastic bunch of people and a very helpful.