Derrick & Atlas GardensResidents Association · Charlton SE7 Get updates
Charlton Riverside Conservation Area · Est. 1908

No to a hyperscale data centre beside our homes.

A hyperscale data centre is proposed for Charlton Riverside, next to the Edwardian homes of Derrick and Atlas Gardens. DAGRA opposes it: the wrong development in the wrong place.

Who would be affected

Our homes, and Charlton's

Derrick and Atlas Gardens are 74 Edwardian homes, built in 1908 by William Cory & Son for the men who worked its coal berths on the Thames. The estate has come through two world wars and the floods of the 1970s. In 2018 it became part of the Charlton Riverside Conservation Area, a designation DAGRA campaigned for.

GLi says the data centre would stand about 90 metres from the nearest homes.

It is not only our streets. A building this tall would be seen across Charlton, including from upper Charlton, and noise from its cooling plant, running day and night, and its diesel generators could be heard well beyond our streets. Our noise map estimates that in a power cut, with all generators running, night-time noise could exceed the World Health Organization guideline as far away as Charlton Village. The land it would take is part of the area planned for around 8,000 new homes and 1,000 jobs.

The proposal

What is proposed

The developer GLi, a joint venture between KSP and PATRIZIA, is proposing a hyperscale data centre at Charlton Riverside, SE7, on the Stone Foundries and VIP trading estates and the CSB Logistics building, off Anchor & Hope Lane (see the site on a map). The proposal has grown since it was first made public at the end of 2025.

  • Height: about 33 metres above the ground at our homes, with roof plant up to about 41 metres and a substation of about 19 metres. The Edwardian homes beside it are about 8 to 9 metres high (two storeys), so the main building alone would be nearly four times their height. GLi's documents give heights above sea level (Ordnance Datum): 37 metres for the building and 45 metres for roof plant. Our homes stand about 3.7 metres above sea level. GLi's "up to 30 metres" is measured from the site's raised floor level.
Scale drawing: two-storey homes at Derrick and Atlas Gardens, about 8 to 9 metres high, beside an electricity substation of about 19 metres and a data centre of about 33 metres with roof plant up to about 41 metres, about 90 metres from the nearest homes.
Drawn to scale from the developer's published maximum heights. Positions are indicative. Open full size.

What happens next

  1. Done August 2026: the developer asked Greenwich Council what its environmental assessment must cover.
  2. Next A planning application, expected later this year according to press reports. None has been submitted yet.
  3. Then A formal period when anyone can comment or object. We will email everyone on our mailing list when it opens.
  4. Finally A decision, normally by the council's planning board.
Our vision

What we want

We want new homes on Charlton Riverside that grow our neighbourhood rather than compete with it, crowd it or overshadow it, alongside good local jobs of every kind and the shops, services and green spaces a growing community needs.

  • Homes for everyone, whatever their income.
  • Real, enduring local jobs, plenty of them and of many kinds.
  • Places to meet, shop and play, and to enjoy the river.
  • Buildings of 3 to 6 storeys, in keeping with the streets around them.

We made this case in 2020. A scheme on the VIP estate was refused by the council and by the Mayor, and the developer's appeal was dismissed because it did not fit the scale and character set for this area. We will keep making it: a data centre would take land meant for homes, community and real, enduring jobs.

Our position

Why we oppose it

  • Heritage: it would tower over the Charlton Riverside Conservation Area and the Edwardian homes of Derrick and Atlas Gardens. Three locally listed buildings on the Stone Foundries site would be demolished.
  • Homes and jobs: Charlton Riverside is planned for around 8,000 new homes and 1,000 jobs. A data centre would take a large part of that land.
  • Noise: plant runs 24 hours a day, and diesel backup generators are tested regularly and run during power cuts, next to homes where people sleep.
Take part

What you can do

  1. Sign up for updates so we can tell you when a planning application is submitted and the objection period opens. Sign up.
  2. Put your views on record now. GLi is seeking views on its proposal until 20 October 2026 at glicharltonriverside.co.uk.
  3. Write to your ward councillors and MP. WriteToThem finds them from your postcode.
  4. Share the leaflet with neighbours. Download it (PDF).
Latest

Campaign updates

Page updated 9 October 2026

  • Updated noise map published: estimated generator noise around the site, using the developer's own published figures. View the noise map.
  • Around 800 households and businesses across Charlton received a DAGRA leaflet about the expanded proposal. Read the leaflet (PDF).
  • The developer asked Greenwich Council for an Environmental Impact Assessment scoping opinion (reference 26/2370/EIA), a formal step before a planning application.
  • DAGRA, Charlton Together and the Charlton Central Residents' Association submitted a pre-application evidence base to the Royal Borough of Greenwich and wrote to councillors, the MP and statutory bodies.
  • GLi held public engagement on its original proposal.
Read and share

Campaign documents

Leaflet: Stop the Data Centre

Our two-page leaflet, delivered across Charlton in September 2026. Heights on this page have since been updated from the developer's scoping report.

Download PDF →

Noise map

Interactive map of estimated generator noise. Indicative figures, not a formal acoustic assessment.

Open the map →
In the media

Press coverage

Reporting on the Charlton data centre proposal.

Stay informed

Get updates from DAGRA

We will email you when a planning application is submitted, when the objection period opens, and when there is something you can do. A few emails a year, no more.

Sign up for updates →

The sign-up form is a Google Form. It asks for your name and email, and optionally your postcode, which helps us represent residents across both Atlas Gardens and Derrick Gardens. We only ever report postcode figures as totals. DAGRA uses your details only for this campaign, never shares them, and will delete them when the campaign ends. To unsubscribe or ask what we hold, email unsubscribeme@derrickandatlasgardens.org.