East London Insights Q1 2022

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) has approved the planning application for an events venue in Stratford.

The Madison Square Garden (MSG) Sphere will be a 21,500 capacity events venue standing 96 metres tall (as high as Big Ben) and 120 metres wide. The majority of the sphere's surface will be covered in visual displays and adverts, making it the world's biggest and highest resolution screen. 

MSG London has said that the sphere will create thousands of jobs in the local area, 4,300 during the construction phase and 3,200 per year once the venue is open. 35% of those jobs will go to local residents. The company also estimates the venue will create £2.5 billion for London's economy.

The LLDC planning officers have stated that while the scheme is undoubtedly controversial, it will be a great tourist attraction. The sphere would "provide an attractive visual backdrop for people living, working, enjoying recreational time, visiting and travelling through the metropolitan town centre."

As part of plans to deliver its housing strategy, Newham Council has agreed a partnership deal that will provide 161 affordable homes in the Borough. 

The partnership will see Pension Insurance Corporation plc (PIC), a specialist insurer of defined benefit pension schemes, make an £83 million investment in collaboration with the London Borough of Newham to fund the construction of the properties.  

The new homes will be created on a brownfield industrial site in Silvertown near London City Airport. The funds will regenerate the area, and the houses will permanently re-home local families. Up to 50% of the properties will be made available for affordable housing.  

The investment will be made via a regeneration lease. Projects funded using this model offer benefits to local residents by creating increased employment and significant spending in the local economy during construction. It provides PIC with long term, inflation-linked cash flows that pay the pensions of its policyholders.  

Construction started in Q1 2022 to deliver two new industrial/warehouse units in Q4 2022. Situated in the established Valor Park in Beckton, these units will be in the mix of other occupiers, including FedEx, Task Systems, Babcock, HSS Hire and N&C.

The units will use sustainable building techniques with several environmentally-friendly features, such as electric car charging points and roof-mounted photovoltaics, ensuring the units will benefit from reduced energy costs and provide much needed industrial space within the M25.

The Mayor of London has granted final planning approval to the new 500 home Bishopsgate Goodsyard development, two years after it was given initial backing. The Greater London Authority (GLA) has now issued legal planning permission, listed building consent and a section 106 agreement on the City fringe site, which sits on the border of Hackney and Tower Hamlets.  

The scheme by Ballymore and Hammerson, master-planned by Faulkner Browns, has been changed significantly from the original plans outlined in 2016 by PLP Architecture after GLA officials recommended the proposals, which featured 1,400 homes in towers of up to 46 storeys, shouldn't go ahead.

The new Faulkner Browns masterplan includes 10 buildings and a reduced number of homes, half of which will be affordable, with a 29 storey office block designed by Eric Parry Architects marking its highest point. The scheme also includes 131,000 sq m of space for business use, an 11,000 sq m hotel, 18,400 sq m for retail, financial and professional services use, and a New York style high line park. 

The planning obligation agreement negotiated by City Hall will see the developers pay £71 million in Community Infrastructure Levy and affordable housing contributions to the GLA and the London Boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets. A further £7 million will be made available for new bus infrastructure.  

Plans for a 51-storey skyscraper in Canary Wharf have been given the go-ahead. Planning officers at Tower Hamlets Council have said that the vast tower's unusual design will make a great addition to the East London skyline. 

Designed by architects Khon Pedersen Fox, the building is made up of three vertical cylinders and will sit next to the South Dock on the Isle of Dogs, one of the most sought-after places for new flats in London. The development will create 552 homes – almost half of which will be one bed flats – and has two sq. km. of floor space for shops and offices and more space for amenities for locals. 

Skyroom has selected Waltham Forest and Lambeth Councils as its first partners in its £100m Key Worker Homes Fund.  

The air space development experts, who are currently delivering airspace projects across London, launched the funding facility in March 2021 to provide early-stage development finance to social landlords for homes specifically for key workers. The fund can be accessed by local authorities and housing associations who want to build new homes on top of their existing stock.  

Lambeth Council's successful bid relates to a five-storey residential building in the Borough, while several low-rise residential blocks in an estate in Waltham Forest were also chosen. It is anticipated that more than 111 new homes could be delivered across the two sites – 23 in Lambeth and 88 in Waltham Forest.  

The sale of what is being called 'London's smallest microflat' garnered considerable interest in the property market in February when it exceeded the asking price of £50,000 to reach £90,000 at auction. 

Housed within a Victorian conversion in Lower Clapton and comprising just 75 sq ft, London's tiniest flat heralds a new dawn in minimalist, functional living, offering a raised bed with a built-in microwave and storage below. A separate wet room completes the accommodation. Arguably, as a convenient base for London living, the property has some merits, as the current tenant has found. Living there just a couple of nights a week at a rent of £800 a month, the flat may provide a practical solution for those wanting a base in London. 

Given the problems a property of this size would have in obtaining a mortgage, the sale was always going to attract interest from investors, one of which purchased it. Some see the sale of this miniature flat as indicative of the growing trend of micro-homes brought about by high property and rent prices. Once again, it has sparked the debate about what constitutes an acceptable living space.

A new application for a major development of residential accommodation on the disused, former site of Havering College of Further and Higher Education has been received by Havering Council. The final decision is expected by mid-May 2022. 

The proposal, which incorporates some of the conditions included as part of the approval earlier this year, has been put forward by Havering Council's housing company Mercury Land Holdings, collaborating with Bellway Partnerships. The project involves clearing the nine-acre site to make way for 78 houses and 42 flats. Bellway will deliver 60 homes on the site in a joint scheme that incorporates various homes to meet the budgets of a range of buyers. This includes 47 affordable homes for local people through rent or shared ownership. 

Bellway plans to launch its Roe Wood Park development in Harold Hill in September 2022 with a collection of 1, 2 and 3-bedroom properties priced to appeal to first-time buyers, families and professionals commuting to London. 

Plans for the proposed Lorimer Village development on the site of the Tesco Extra in High Road have been called into question by local Labour MP Sam Tarry, who is critical of the Mayor of London's decision not to stop the project. 

The Lorimer Village, a £0.5 billion mixed-use urban village development, will bring 1,280 homes, a new primary school, village hall, community hub and a Tesco store to the 10.4 acre landscaped site. 35% (415) of the new homes are described as affordable.  

Following planning permission granted by the London Borough of Redbridge to Weston Homes, partner Tesco in 2021 and the recent decision of the Mayor of London's not to intervene on the grounds that there were no clear planning reasons to do so, the eight-year project is set to get underway. 

However, there remains considerable cross-party opposition to the development. Mr Tarry had earlier written to Mr Khan expressing concerns about its impact on already stretched local services and infrastructure, the decline in air quality, the lack of social rent and genuinely affordable housing. 

Along with former Green Party leader Sian Berry and 3,000 signatories to a petition, Mr Tarry continues his opposition to the plans. He has called into question the Mayor of London's decision, stating that local residents will be bitterly disappointed by the outcome.  

The 'Stop the Tesco Toxic Towers' campaign group share Mr Tarry's concerns about the appropriateness of the development with its 14 residential towers and its impact on air quality, traffic and congestion.  

In response to the opposition, the developer commented: "Weston Homes can confirm that it has engaged extensively with both Redbridge Council and the Greater London Authority, alongside other local stakeholders, regarding the overall design and elements of Lorimer Village.  

"This included extensive consultation to achieve an affordable housing mix that fully complies with the relevant London Plan policies and meets local needs." 

Plans to create a new 10,800-home village and transform a former industrial site on the banks of the Thames took a step closer to achieving its vision with the approval of a Barking Riverside development comprising 167 new homes by Barking and Dagenham Council. 

The joint venture by L&Q and the Mayor of London is set on a 179ha site and benefits from 2km of Thames frontage. The project is the largest housing development in East London.

Along with the new homes, the plan will deliver a large park and parking spaces for residents. Of the 176 properties, 80 have been categorised as 'affordable' and building is expected to start soon. 

These homes will join others forming part of the new village into which residents have already begun to move. With most of the development still to take place, it could be some time until residents enjoy all the benefits that the village development has promised. 

These include new schools, healthcare facilities and high-quality public parks and connections to walking and cycling routes. An Overground station scheduled to open in Autumn 2022 is seen as an essential provision in helping the Barking Riverside development achieve its potential. When completed, the new rail link will add 4.5km to the London Overground Gospel Oak to Barking line and take it from Barking to a new station at Barking Riverside. 

Before then, a £7.3 million pier, currently scheduled to open in May, should give residents access to the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers service, linking them to Canary Wharf and Central London in under an hour.  

A substantial 3,502 home scheme, drawn up by lead designer and master planner PRP Architects on behalf of the Peabody Group, is set to go ahead on the former Ford car factory site in Dagenham, East London. Outline planning for the scheme, known as Dagenham Green, was unanimously approved by Barking and Dagenham Council. 

The development will provide up to 1,550, around 47%, affordable homes, including London Affordable Rent and London Shared Ownership. All the 3,500 homes will be set within a new biodiverse neighbourhood offering 10 acres of public realm and landscaping, including a 5-acre urban park with a substantial play provision of 15,000 sq m. New cycling, pedestrian and bus route connections linking to the wider areas and public transport are to be provided, along with local shops and restaurants. An allocation of 5 acres of land has been made for a new secondary school. 

The development will also feature a Heritage Trail that will signpost visitors to different aspects of the area's history, including the 1968 Sewing Machinists Strike and the biodiverse Thames Marshland. 

Commenting on the Dagenham Green development, Lord Kerslake, Chair of the Peabody Trust Board said: "We're excited to be working in Dagenham, working closely with the local community, the council, and partners to create a new sustainable neighbourhood with placemaking at its heart." 

Our Development Consultancy team advised on this scheme when they initially bid for the site in mid-2018. They provided advice on the Current Market Value of the proposed various private tenure flat types within the scheme's first phase. They also provided general commentary on the market for such private tenure flats and consideration of the ‘placemaking’ ability to influence the first phase and later phases of the project.

With the continued uncertainty over the future of the proposed Beam Park Station in East London, the decision by Barking and Dagenham Council to purchase more than 900 homes to be built, there has provided a glimmer of hope that the station might be built.

The Council has partnered with Countryside and L&Q to buy 936 homes across three phases of the regeneration project. Half the homes will be affordable housing, and the other half will be market rental homes. 

Beam Park is already home to hundreds of residents who purchased their properties on the multi-million-pound development, where 3,000 homes are planned on the understanding that there would be a station. The decision to purchase was influenced by the plans for a station that would reduce travel times for commuters into central London.

Concerns expressed by the Department of Transport (DfT) about the station's financial viability and, therefore, the necessity of an unending offer of a subsidy to cover running costs from the GLA brought plans to a halt.  

However, the DfT has now said it would consider going ahead if it was profitable. Recent comments from the Minister for Transport, Wendy Morton, have confirmed that plans to build the station have not been ruled out by the government and have clarified that the station needs to show that it can generate revenue over a continuous 3-year period. However, it will still be for the GLA to fund the associated operating losses with an indemnity to be agreed. She said the DfT is waiting for the GLA to send them their plans showing the project is viable. 

Havering Council's leader Damian White welcomed the announcement. He said: "We have said all along our plans have always been for a new station at Beam Park. Putting in this station will benefit residents, improve the local economy and support businesses. 

"I am pleased to see the minister has confirmed in her response to me that they are not ruling a station out and are waiting for the GLA's plans on how it can be viable." 

Research from leading rental portal Rentd shows that rental demand for London properties has shown an upward trend in Q1 of 2022. Forecasters predict that the London rental market will continue to thrive in 2022. As London opens for business with the easing of Covid restrictions, growing tenant demand and a decrease in the number of rental properties could make for a very competitive year. 

In terms of quarterly change, 11 boroughs have seen rentals increase beyond pre-pandemic levels as the workforce and students return to the city. Rentd's analysis shows that London rental demand has climbed 4% from the previous quarter, with some of the East London boroughs faring particularly well. Waltham Forest is experiencing the most significant increase in tenant demand, up 16%, closely followed by Redbridge at 12%. Both Barking and Dagenham and Havering show an 11% uplift over the first 3 months. 

Reflecting on these results, founder and chief executive officer of Rentd, Ahmed Gamal comments: 

"During the pandemic, the London rental market was knocked for six due to a severe decline in both domestic and international tenant demand. The result of which was some drastic declines in rental values and we're still seeing the tailwind of this trend today."  

"However, this year has brought a rejuvenated level of certainty to the market, spurred by a return to the workplace and an uplift in rental demand for London properties. As a result, we're seeing rental values return and exceed pre-pandemic levels in many parts of the market, and this will be very welcome news for the capital's landlords."  
 

A 71,011 sq ft highly specified warehouse unit began construction in February with plans for delivery in November 2022. EVO.71 on Church Manor Way, Erith is BREEAM Excellent and Net Zero Carbon in use, targeting an A+ rating for energy performance, making it a net zero carbon building.

This is EVO Industrial's second net zero carbon building. Recycled materials, photovoltaic roof panels, car charging stations and a design optimising natural light were used to achieve this carbon neutral status.

Part of the Powerhouse.London development, this approved 302,790 sq ft unit will be delivered to a superb specification and BREEAM Excellent standards.

Already home to IKEA and Amazon, Powerhouse.London is a landmark logistics development strategically located close to the M25 with direct access to Central London and the South East.