London Mayor, Boris Johnson, has approved what is claimed to be Britain’s largest single regeneration development run by a single developer.
A revised masterplan for the £8.4billion urban village featuring 12,678 homes on a previously disused gasworks on in the Greenwich Peninsula will create an entire new district formed of five neighbourhood zones.
The 80-hectare site, taken on by the Mayor in 2012, previously stalled after a similar masterplan had been granted planning permission in 2004.
Developer, Knight Dragon, is already building a further 2,822 homes on the site, which will bring the total to 15,720.
Boris Johnson says, “This gigantic site at Greenwich Peninsula has sat dormant for far too long, so I’m pleased that since City Hall took control of this land, we are already beginning to see construction underway. This will not only provide thousands of much-needed new homes for Londoners, but also bring jobs as part of the wider regeneration towards the east of the capital.”
Plans also include 220 serviced apartments, 24,000 square metres of retail use, 60,000 square metres of business use, two new schools and two new hotels.
The project will also feature a 40,000 square metre film studio, a visitor attraction and increased green open space including an extension to the existing Central Park.
Richard Margree, Chief Executive of Knight Dragon, says, “The continued support of the Mayor and his team has given us the confidence and ambition to start the transformation of London’s biggest regeneration site.”
In August, Greenwich council gave outline planning permission for the site, which runs along the River Thames, and the Mayor has now also given the masterplan the go-ahead.
Of the developable Greenwich Peninsula land taken on by the Mayor in 2012, 99% is now in the pipeline and is a key element of Boris Johnson’s City in the East masterplan, which looks to deliver at least 200,000 homes in east London over the next 20 years.
The masterplan includes 2,928 affordable homes, while a review mechanism could deliver an additional 1,572 affordable homes.
Councillor Danny Thorpe, Royal Borough of Greenwich Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Transport says, “The council has long held a vision to make the most of the huge potential offered by the Greenwich Peninsula. The approval of this planning application makes it one of the most exciting developments in London, bringing huge long-term regeneration benefits to the Peninsula and cementing it as a new district for London.
“We are particularly proud that, at a time of critical housing shortage, this development will deliver so many affordable homes, of which more than two-thirds will be for social rent, at no more than fifty per cent of market rent.
“This is an ambitious vision for an extremely exciting site and I look forward to it now finally moving forward, and seeing the delivery of this major new regeneration project to the borough.”
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