Development News
Planning Consent for Barking Riverside
Barking Riverside Ltd, the joint venture company between Bellway plc and national regeneration agency English Partnerships, has received planning consent from the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham for the 10,800 home Thames Gateway scheme, one of the biggest strategic housing projects in the region.
The Section 106 agreement has also been finalised, guaranteeing the provision of at least 30 per cent family accommodation and 41 per cent affordable housing. Forty per cent of the site is designated as open space and access to 2km of the river Thames will be opened up to the public, a prominent feature of the scheme.
Earth works have already commenced on site and detailed designs for the first two stages of the development, comprising 4,000 new homes, are now being prepared following the selection of preferred design partners. These will be submitted for planning approval to the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation within the next six months.
Ravensbourne College relocation gets Council backing
Greenwich Council has granted planning permission for Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication's plans for a major new building on the Greenwich Penisula. The College, who announced their relocation to a site next to the O2 earlier this year, commissioned Foreign Office Architects' to design the new building, which will provide 14,200sq m of floor space for the college, plus commercial retail space.
Currently based in Chislehurst, Kent, Ravensbourne specialises in fashion, broadcasting, animation, and interior, graphic and product design. The design of the new landmark building is expected to reflect the Ravensbourne's cutting edge philosophy and will feature a layout and series of work spaces that simulate the environment and working practices experienced in industry, with a greater emphasis on shared space and facilities and student collaboration. Construction of the building is expected to be completed in 2009 with the College hoping to be operational on site for the 2009/10 academic year.
The College's relocation to the Greenwich Peninsula will play a major part in the area's £5 billion regeneration programme, and add a large boost to London Thames Gateway's offer for the Creative sector. The peninsula, the largest mixed use urban development project submitted in Europe, will eventually be home to up to 30,000 people with new homes, new schools, and improved transport links.
Stratford Town Centre scheme gets go-ahead
The Olympic Delivery Authority and Newham Council have approved the masterplan for Westfield's Stratford town centre project adjacent to the London 2012 Olympic site. The development will become a key businesses hub for London Thames Gateway comprising some 175,000 square metres of retail and leisure activities, 106,000 square metres of office floor space, 34,800 square metres of hotel space and 1,224 flats.
The retail space will be anchored by a John Lewis department store and Waitrose supermarket.
Westfield has insisted that the project will be sustainable. Initially the new development will have carbon emissions 25 per cent lower than existing building regulation requirements. By 2020 the scheme's emissions will be 50 per cent better and subsequently, by 2050, 80 per cent better than current requirements.
Work on the scheme, one of the largest regeneration projects in the capital, is due to start next year and to be open for business by 2011.
