Elizabeth Line’s Woolwich railway station could see 26-storey block of flats built next door

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

A neighbourhood may see 523 homes built next to its new Elizabeth Line station, with towers stretching as high as 26 storeys.

The area, named Armourers Court in the plans, is beside the new Elizabeth Line station in Woolwich.

The plans also include space for shops, a communal garden and a children’s play area.

The plans were sent to Greenwich council by Berkeley Homes and Transport for London (TfL).

A previous application for the site was approved in 2015 for 394 homes, 20 per cent of which would be affordable.

The space available for shops in the original plans was also half of that of the new application, which is 1,536sqm.

Thirty-five per cent of the homes planned under the new proposals would be affordable, with Berkeley Homes intending to raise this to 40 per cent.

The space is also planned to be largely car free, with only 12 disabled parking spaces included.

By working alongside TfL, the buildings have been designed to encourage cycling among residents, including over 900 spaces to park bikes.

Council documents said the stepped design of the new building plans were “less monolithic” than the previous proposals, with Berkeley Homes saying the original buildings were “too close together” and overshadowed each other.

Construction of the new towers will involve knocking down a building used while building the Elizabeth Line station.

Berkeley Homes has described the Armourer’s Court plans as part of a £1bin project to regenerate Woolwich.

In their plans for the buildings, they said: “The new homes will be built using Berkeley’s expertise in Over Station Developments at Woolwich and are carefully arranged to conceal the existing ‘East Box’ station ventilation and escape building at the centre of the site.

@The plan is to utilise the existing structures to form high quality, well landscaped amenity gardens.”

The decision on the plans for Armourers Court will be decided by Greenwich council at a planning meet on today.

Berkeley Homes, Transport for London and Greenwich council were contacted for comment.

Pictured top: Woolwich railway station (Picture: supchppt)