Plans submitted for Printworks reopening

Plans for the reopening of Printworks have been submitted to the local council, which could see the London superclub return by 2026.

The acclaimed 6,000-capacity nightclub and events venue shut down on 1 May 2023 and looked set to close for good after Southwark Council gave the go-ahead for it to be converted into offices.

But in May 2023, an agreement was reached for the venue to continue to operate in some form.

Today, property developer British Land and its partner AustralianSuper, one of the country’s largest pension funds, have submitted a detailed proposal to the council to redevelop the site in Rotherhithe into a permanent cultural venue.

The pair are in exclusive talks with Broadwick, the company that ran Printworks through a six-year temporary consent, to operate the new venue.

“What appeals to us about it is that it’s creating a new piece of city and a new district for London”

The reimagined space would occupy half of the existing building and would include a new rooftop terrace space for performances, rehearsals, product launches or curated talks, as well as a smaller performance space called The Inkwells. The other half will be turned into offices for 1,500 workers, and shops.

Printworks forms part of British Land and AustralianSuper’s £6 billion Canada Water project in London’s Docklands. Forty buildings are planned with up to 3,000 new homes – of which 35% will be affordable – and offices with space for 20,000 workers.

British Land and AustralianSuper hope to receive planning permission for ‘Printworks 2.0’ within the next few months.

“What appeals to us about it is that it’s creating a new piece of city and a new district for London,” Emma Cariaga, co-leader of the project for British Land, told The Guardian. “We intend to create a permanent cultural venue and put it on the map globally. Over the last six years, Printworks has become an iconic venue for electronic music and one of the top five clubs in the world. But our plans seek to push that to deliver a much broader programme.”

Printworks reportedly attracted more than 2.5 million visitors in its six years of being open and hosted over 300 concerts, including with Skepta, Gorillaz and Seth Troxler.

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