Royal Arsenal - Over a Thousand Jobs Created
The Royal Arsenal is mostly known as a military area and for hundreds of years it was. But as the story goes, the times have changed. Today the Royal Arsenal is an area teaming with activity, though, still with plenty of open spaces and the old buildings intact, amidst the new high rises.
From a historical point of view the Royal Arsenal is interesting, but perhaps even more so from the point of view of someone looking to find a home, or start a business in London. Possibly also someone looking to find a new job. Read on to find out why!
The Royal Arsenal ceased to be a military facility in 1994 when the Ministry of Defence moved out (not to be confused with the Ministry of Magic, which you can only reach by platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross). Six years later the Berkeley Group won a bidding to invest in the site by building 700 homes. A few years later this number had risen to over 3,000 homes, as well as a one hectare park, bars, restaurants and a cinema.
During this process the DLR was extended to the nearby Woolwich Arsenal to make transport easier and the Thames Clipper service was extended to the Royal Arsenal, making it easy to get to town by boat! A bit chilly in winter perhaps, but definitively preferable to the tube and trains in spring and summer. Most Londoners spend way too much time indoors.
In 2018 the Royal Arsenal crossrail station is set to open, meaning it will only take 8 minutes to get to Canary Wharf, 14 minutes to get to Liverpool Street and 22 minutes to get to Bond Street. People working in central London will therefore be more likely to choose living in the Royal Arsenal.
London City Airport is already only 7 minutes away on the DLR, making it perfect for frequent travellers.
In other words, travel options have grown to keep up with the demand of new residents. Today, 16 years into a 30 year development plan, the Royal Arsenal is home to about 5,000 people. Not surprisingly businesses have moved in too - people want food, entertainment, healthcare and so forth, so with people comes business opportunities.
Another reason why businesses choose the Royal Arsenal residential area and surrounds as their home is tourism. There’s a local museum about the Royal Arsenal’s past, and military enthusiasts flock to the site.
The Royal Borough of Greenwich has also contributed to the influx of businesses by supporting the local art/cultural organisations with grants. According to the borough arts, culture and tourism contribute “£1.2bn to the local economy each year.” In turn it supports more than 16,000 jobs. Whilst most of these jobs are closer to the actual Greenwich area than the Royal Arsenal, it makes the Royal Arsenal the perfect place to live if you want to work somewhere in Greenwich.
And, recently the borough says it has been “securing the leases on a set of key heritage buildings at the famous Royal Arsenal site and is in discussions with high quality innovative arts and cultural organisations about locating themselves in the area.”
The Arts Hub Academy of Performing Arts is now based in the former Royal Military Academy within the Royal Arsenal Riverside Development.
Photo by: SWANSWELL Flickr
A Business Success
Back in 2002, only two years into the development of the Royal Arsenal residential area, Martin Arnold, a company of chartered surveyors, moved their business there. This was at a time when everyone else was leaving - Woolwich consisted mainly of council estates and there was no spending power in the area. Not surprisingly, it was cheap to get a lease and the company, which saw the area’s potential, grabbed the opportunity. Since then Martin Arnold has grown from 12 to 55 employees. Not bad.
The Royal Arsenal is still a cheap option when it comes to housing - whether a home for you or a home for your business. With the crossrail station prices are bound to go up and the influx of people likely to increase. This makes it a perfect investment.
Due to the continuing development of the area 3,000 construction jobs have been created. 1,000 permanent jobs have also already been created in the area. This is in addition to the jobs created in the rest of the borough, which, as mentioned, has had a boom in jobs in the arts, culture and tourism sector.
As more people continue to move to Royal Arsenal, more jobs will be created as more people will need food, entertainment and healthcare.
We are a property management company that deals with housing in the Royal Arsenal residential area and SE London. If you have questions, give us a call, or you can schedule an appointment by sending us a message online by clicking here.
Greens Lettings | Letting Agent SE18 | Property Management | Landlords | HMO Experts and Specialists | Royal Arsenal
Greens Lettings is a property management company based in Shooters Hill, London. As your HMO expert in SE18, we continue to serve places in South East London such as SE2 (Abbey Wood), SE3 (Blackheath), SE7 (Charlton), SE9 (Eltham), SE10 (Greenwich South St), SE18 (Woolwich), SE23 (Lewisham) and SE28 (Bexley) — just to name a few. We are your local online letting agent specialising in HMO conversions and full management. We offer free consultation and free property valuation. Contact Greens Lettings here.
