Royal Arsenal Riverside, SE18

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

The location is amazing and has been only getting better year on year with the Elizabeth line opening, lots of shops, restaurants and services have opened alongside it. It is a beautiful location although I am disappointed they are building over one of our only green spaces. Our street is great, the place is managed very well, we've never had any problems with bins or communal facilities. It can sometimes get a bit noisy in summer with the windows open but the security team are good at coming to sort it out if people are making noise outside your windows. The occasional case of anti-social behaviour but way less than anywhere else I've lived in London. I'm grateful for the security and concierge teams. The parking for most buildings is a huge win for London and it is so well maintained that my car is thriving.

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

I wish I had known about the heat network. You cannot choose who provides your gas for hot water and heating. Although it is good to have a network because the supply is good and they fix problems very quickly, the standing charge is so high that our bill is huge even if we use nothing.

What is the best feature of your home:

How quiet, peaceful and safe it normally feels, even on a low floor.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Good: a vibrant and convenient area with lots of local amenities, very convenient to get groceries and food, also lots of entertainment options e.g. Punchdrunk that attract people living outside of Woolwich into the development Bad: feels unsafe if travelling outside of development into the Woolwich town centre at night

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

The active arts and drama community inside the development - potential for further community growth

What is the best feature of your home:

Convenience - great transport links via tube and buses, also having several branded supermarkets nearby

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

I have lived in Royal Arsenal for over 8 years and it has drastically deteriorated in this time. Although there has been a lot of positives regarding transport links, development and amenities, this has attracted a lot of antisocial behaviour. Drug use, particularly cannabis is present on a daily basis around the development. Security and concierge are limited in their ability to prevent this behaviour. The police do not care. Even when there was an incident between gangs involving one person being run over in front of our eyes, the police were reluctant to get involved and it was left to residents to try and de-escalate the situation. With the warm weather, many people from surrounding areas who do not live/ own the properties make use of the water features. I was not told my property, which I own, would be in the middle of a free water park. Children frequent the area all day long, screaming and urinating in the water feature. There are not toilet facilities as they were designed for the residents to enjoy as a visual feature but have been monopolised by non residents. It is difficult to work from home unless you work between the hours of 2am - 7am. Opposite the development on Beresford Road is a function room which plays music into the early hours. After dark and in the summer, many people are seen urinating around the buildings. Despite there being several pubs and spaces which have toilets. I have reported the antisocial behaviour multiple times with no change. The service charge continues to rise, yet the service provided is laughable. Many people dump their cars in the spaces outside the car parks as they know the tickets are not enforced and any fines are cheaper than paying for parking anyway. Furthermore, the onsite nursery has rude, inconsiderate parents who regularly park unsafely blocking the road. It is only a matter of time for an incident to occur due to selfish behaviours. I would not recommend sending your hard working money on a property here unless you are a self centred inconsiderate party animal who endorses regular screaming and public urination. You would definitely fit in. Eggs have been thrown at our windows with no investigation.

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

Completely disregard, do not respond . Raised issue with service riser which was not repaired for 1 month. Car park gates break down - no communication on repair timetable.

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

The disruption from general public. It is marketed as a safe, secure, quiet environment and this is frankly not true and is a mis-selling.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Excellent facilities available on site, including supermarkets, restaurants and pubs. Now with the Lizzie line, central London is at your doorstep practically.

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

Fantastic - management were able to rectify poor quality.

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

I wish I had known that you may need to arrange parking separately as not all flats come with it

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Living at the development for about an year now and it has been a great experience. River views, amazing walks, great pubs, monthly markets etc. The only downside I see is the people coming from outside areas and throwing garbage, smoking, sitting in shady areas. Another things building maintenance takes a long time to get rectified. Like 1 lift was inoperable for almost 10 days. IP guard door entry camera also took a similar time to get resolved.

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

I think the response time to issue can be reduced but overall it’s a good response from them always.

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

You can’t park your bike on the balcony and I couldn’t understand the reason for that.