About Oxley Holdings

The flight noise is very noticeable, doesn’t matter where you are, in flat, in townhouse, on the street, near the river, you can hear the plane noise very often. It’s extra annoying during the day, every 5~10mins you have a big flight flying above you. If your house/flat is quiet, even when the windows are closed, you can still hear them, but not too bad. In an empty flat/house, if you have all windows open, the flight noise is loud and strong enough that you can even feel the vibration. Once you have furniture in, it may be slightly better as things will absorb the vibration.

Don’t believe what others say that planes don’t take off towards the city, that’s just not true, it hasn’t been true for a long time. With the upcoming expansion of City Airport, I could only imagine things getting worst. Apparently, the expansion will also allow bigger planes to land and take off, so even louder noise.

If you have friends and family coming to visit you, try to schedule it on Sat afternoon, there are no flights on that day after 12 i think, all the other days, expect flight noise until 9~10pm.

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

Flight Noise is there, but when windows are mostly closed and you are inside, with full furniture to absorb some of the noise, it’s liveable, and not too bad. When you are outside or with windows open, there is no escape of the flight noise.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

This place has both a quiet residential area feel to it as well as a laid back urban vibe. The residents are kind and helpful and sociable, and there seems to be a shared care for the area. Post-pandemic we’re seeing more and more shops and restaurants opening up, which is definitely a plus. Accessibility to public transport is good, with for example Canary Wharf only 20 mins traveling time and even less to get to City airport. Public parking is limited which is actually a good thing considering traffic safety and air pollution.

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

If there’s one thing that might be improved, it’s the train capacity during morning rush hours. Even though this is not for the property management but for TFL to fix, it can sometimes be a bit trying when the early morning trains are just so busy with fellow commuters. However, outside rush hours it’s great to be so well connected to Central London etc.

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

The standard of the property is such that there aren’t any major issues that have popped up, but whenever something needs to be done or questions answered, the building management are always happy to assist.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

DLR station is within a 5 minute walk (either Pontoon Dock or West Silvertown, depending on which side of the development you’re on). There’s a brand new pier for the Thames Clipper service just for Royal Wharf too – great way to get to work if it fits your commute. Shops and amenities are improving with time. There are 2 cafes in the development, a beautiful new pub by the riverside (The Windjammer). The main grocery shop is a Sainsbury’s Local in the centre of the development. You can walk directly from Royal Wharf onto the riverside, and get great views of the Thames Barrier. The development is also right next to Thames Barrier Park, which is beautiful (but a little small). If you walk around 10 mins you end up at the Royal Docks which are also quite nice. There is little in the way of restaurants in the area.

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

There is plane noise from London City Airport but this is barely noticeable with all the windows closed. Ask the agent to wait for a plane to go by so you can hear what the noise is like for yourself. There are a lot of families and married couples living here, so that’s typically who you’ll see walking around the development. The area inside Royal Wharf itself feels incredibly safe but if you leave the development it turns dodgy really quickly.

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

Very fast and proactive building management. Respond to queries very quickly but I think action can take a long time depending on the type of fault.

Ours being a townhouse, the initial estimate was GBP1.59 per sq ft which would be about GBP2385 for our house. However, it seems the charges will in fact be somewhere close to double this amount. It was unclear from the bill how they have apportioned the cost and some seemed bizarre. I won’t go into all the detail here and I had many emails back and forth with BAML to explain why charges had been proportioned as they had.

The whole thing is much too opaque and it seems to be made intentionally difficult or impossible to check if they have made a mistake with the way the costs are being shared out. It is also frustrating to have such high charges when so much of the development – such as the leisure centre – haven’t been completed. Residents agreed to pay and now a Residents Association has been set up to challenge.

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

Don’t take estimations as actual. Visit the Royalwharf forum and hear from other residents.