Ecoworld London brings multi-million leisure facility and new homes to Westminster thanks to £36m funding from Natwest

The redevelopment of the sites in West Kilburn and Kensal Rise has seen the creation of 99 new homes and a £28m state of the art sports and leisure centre.

EcoWorld London will deliver 155 new homes and two new sports and leisure centre in West London as part of the redevelopment of two sites in West Kilburn and Kensal Rise, following a £35m funding package from NatWest.

The redevelopment project has so far seen the construction of 99 new homes and the brand new Moberly Sports Centre – which includes the first new 25m swimming pool in Westminster for 40 years. The final phase of the project will be on the site of the former Jubilee Sports Centre, delivering 56 additional new homes and a new sports centre.

One in five of the properties are designed for families and 10% of the entire offering is wheelchair accessible. The redevelopment forms part of Westminster City Council’s core strategy of delivering 2,400 new homes as well as indoor and outdoor recreational facilities for the community by 2026.

Ashley Toy, NatWest, said: “The development demonstrates why we were delighted to finance the project. The new leisure centre has already become a community hub and created new jobs and opportunities in the area. With both phases being completed, we’re excited to see the project come to life.”

The new £28m Moberly Sports Centre offers an eight-court sports hall, a dedicated learner swimming pool, health and fitness suite, exercise and dance studios, a synthetic turf sports pitch, a boxing hall and the aforementioned 25m swimming pool. Since the brand new 25m swimming pool was opened in June 2018, 2,000 new members have signed up and the centre has received 7,000 recorded visits in just three months.

As well as a focus on bringing these opportunities to the community, EcoWorld London also focused on making the new development cost effective and greener than the previous offering. As a result, not only did the redevelopment achieve a 2% reduction in CO2 emissions and a 40% reduction from the use of on-site renewables, the increased efficiency of the leisure centre realised £600,000 in savings for Westminster City Council per year.

Chris Scott, CFO of EcoWorld London, said: “The NatWest Real Estate Finance Team has provided us with invaluable support throughout the development of the scheme. The team has dedicated themselves to fully understand the complexity of the development and the needs of the business, and to structure the appropriate solutions. We value their expertise and hands-on approach and look forward to working with them further in the future.”

The entire redevelopment is projected to create nearly 700 jobs, with no cost to the taxpayer and will support local schools by offering use of the facilities.

EcoWorld London is part of Eco World International Berhad (EcoWorld International), a real estate developer listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad. The EcoWorld International Group has nine current projects in the UK with a total value of c.£3.4bn. EcoWorld London is also partly owned by the Willmott Dixon Group.