> Newspaper tycoon Richard Desmond has gained planning at the third attempt to redevelop his former Isle of Dogs printworks site in London with a vast luxury flats scheme. The 1,360-home Millwall outer dock waterfront plan will see the comprehensive redevelopment of the 6.15 hectare brownfield site, formerly occupied by his Northern & Shell publishing company’s Westferry Printworks.
> Latest plans for the mixed-development have been scaled down slightly while around a third of the homes will now be affordable. Thirteen buildings ranging from 4 to 31 storeys will be constructed in four phases over a total eight-year building programme. The scheme also includes a 1,200-place secondary school, a rejuvenated dock front, over 2 hectares of public open space together with ground-floor shops, restaurants, community centre and workspaces.
> The approval comes nine years after the controversial redevelopment was first submitted for planning to the Borough of Tower Hamlets. The council previously turned down two planning applications for the site, with the latter submission called in by Government. Then former housing secretary Robert Jenrick decided to give consent, overruling the Government’s own planning inspector’s decision to reject the scheme.
> It was later revealed that Northern & Shell had donated £12,000 to the Tory Party two weeks after Jenrick gave the plans the green light. The Conservative government later quashed this decision, stating that the plans would have caused harm to the surrounding area. The professional team includes Mace as development manager, designs by architect PLP and MEP engineer Aecom with WSP acting as civil and structural engineer.
This is a blight on the CW/IoD area. Finally something is being done with it! This is EXACTLY the sort of land that should be being utilised for homes, especially in London.
Imo Tycoons should stick to Railroads, Zoos and Rollercoasters
Building over a thousand homes during a national housing crisis sounds like a good thing no?
The problem with these types of developments is that legally they’re required to have a % of these homes as affordable – in this development I read it’s around 30%.
Affordable however means one of three things – either shared ownership, affordable rent, or social rent. Only the last one, social rent, is actually any good as it offers, but it’s also by far the least used, at something like 10% of affordable homes.
Shared ownership lets you buy a % of the flat, but you buy at the 700k prices these 1 bed flats go for, and then you’re on the hook for rising service charges and rents for the remaining % you don’t own. A few large blocks built near me in Whitechapel are selling 1 beds and 2 beds in the 600k-800k range.. which is affordable to absolutely no one normal. This is the largest % of homes classed as affordable homes.
Affordable rent is the second largest % of homes classed as affordable, which simply means rent is charged at 80% of local rates. So the 1 bed that rents for £1800 in Canary wharf will now be £1500.. again not really affordable.
So you have 1300 homes being built, of which I’d estimate (based on previous builds) 10% of 30% (390) would be social rent – so 39 homes. What does that do for the normal population struggling to buy properties? This is the story all over London, lots of expensive builds, very few affordable houses. The government needs to buck up and mandate a good % of these homes be designated as council homes when built. It’s not like the developers can’t afford it, Desmond is already a billionaire and these 1300 homes will have a market value of close to a £1 billion. Even taking 10% of those off and designating them as council homes would do a lot.
30% affordability requirement… watch that be whittled away by the time its built
A £12k donation. I’m glad to see the Tories are so easily influenced.
Even if they are luxury apartments, it’s a goos thing.
Means less too affluent renters competing with the average renter for flats… more housing supply is always good.
Turning an abandoned factory location into housing seems like a good thing by every metric.
9 comments
> Newspaper tycoon Richard Desmond has gained planning at the third attempt to redevelop his former Isle of Dogs printworks site in London with a vast luxury flats scheme. The 1,360-home Millwall outer dock waterfront plan will see the comprehensive redevelopment of the 6.15 hectare brownfield site, formerly occupied by his Northern & Shell publishing company’s Westferry Printworks.
> Latest plans for the mixed-development have been scaled down slightly while around a third of the homes will now be affordable. Thirteen buildings ranging from 4 to 31 storeys will be constructed in four phases over a total eight-year building programme. The scheme also includes a 1,200-place secondary school, a rejuvenated dock front, over 2 hectares of public open space together with ground-floor shops, restaurants, community centre and workspaces.
> The approval comes nine years after the controversial redevelopment was first submitted for planning to the Borough of Tower Hamlets. The council previously turned down two planning applications for the site, with the latter submission called in by Government. Then former housing secretary Robert Jenrick decided to give consent, overruling the Government’s own planning inspector’s decision to reject the scheme.
> It was later revealed that Northern & Shell had donated £12,000 to the Tory Party two weeks after Jenrick gave the plans the green light. The Conservative government later quashed this decision, stating that the plans would have caused harm to the surrounding area. The professional team includes Mace as development manager, designs by architect PLP and MEP engineer Aecom with WSP acting as civil and structural engineer.
This is a blight on the CW/IoD area. Finally something is being done with it! This is EXACTLY the sort of land that should be being utilised for homes, especially in London.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tiller+Leisure+Centre/@51.4924225,-0.0186219,121a,35y,324.11h,69.25t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x487602bf8c25cadd:0x7b6535123bc52381!8m2!3d51.4962871!4d-0.0219083!16s%2Fg%2F1tj95x3n?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDgyNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Imo Tycoons should stick to Railroads, Zoos and Rollercoasters
Building over a thousand homes during a national housing crisis sounds like a good thing no?
The problem with these types of developments is that legally they’re required to have a % of these homes as affordable – in this development I read it’s around 30%.
Affordable however means one of three things – either shared ownership, affordable rent, or social rent. Only the last one, social rent, is actually any good as it offers, but it’s also by far the least used, at something like 10% of affordable homes.
Shared ownership lets you buy a % of the flat, but you buy at the 700k prices these 1 bed flats go for, and then you’re on the hook for rising service charges and rents for the remaining % you don’t own. A few large blocks built near me in Whitechapel are selling 1 beds and 2 beds in the 600k-800k range.. which is affordable to absolutely no one normal. This is the largest % of homes classed as affordable homes.
Affordable rent is the second largest % of homes classed as affordable, which simply means rent is charged at 80% of local rates. So the 1 bed that rents for £1800 in Canary wharf will now be £1500.. again not really affordable.
So you have 1300 homes being built, of which I’d estimate (based on previous builds) 10% of 30% (390) would be social rent – so 39 homes. What does that do for the normal population struggling to buy properties? This is the story all over London, lots of expensive builds, very few affordable houses. The government needs to buck up and mandate a good % of these homes be designated as council homes when built. It’s not like the developers can’t afford it, Desmond is already a billionaire and these 1300 homes will have a market value of close to a £1 billion. Even taking 10% of those off and designating them as council homes would do a lot.
30% affordability requirement… watch that be whittled away by the time its built
A £12k donation. I’m glad to see the Tories are so easily influenced.
Even if they are luxury apartments, it’s a goos thing.
Means less too affluent renters competing with the average renter for flats… more housing supply is always good.
Turning an abandoned factory location into housing seems like a good thing by every metric.