Partner needed for ‘new town’ riverside plan

BY TOBY PORTER
toby@slpmedia.co.uk

A £3.5million development to transform miles of the waterfront along the Thames is looking for builders to make the vision a reality.

The Peabody Trust is looking for a development partner to deliver its 11,500-home Thamesmead Waterfront.The vast new town riverside development will also include shops, offices, industrial units and schools in North Thamesmead – which has not had anything built on that scale since the 1980s.

Peabody’s partner will work in partnership with the trust to plan, design and execute the project by creating a delivery programme as part of a masterplan which will be drawn up in the next two years. Peabody’s executive director for Thamesmead, John Lewis, said: “These are really exciting times for London’s new town, Thamesmead.

“The opening of Crossrail in 2018 and the planned DLR extension from Gallions Reach to North Thamesmead in 2026 will enable the comprehensive regeneration of the town.

“Unrivalled in both scale and space, the Thamesmead Waterfront scheme offers a unique opportunity for Peabody to work with a strategic partner to deliver a new community, benefiting both new and existing residents of Thamesmead for years to come.”

The scheme forms just part of Peabody’s planned development at Thamesmead, which is expected to deliver 20,000 new homes on a site that is larger than the developments of Old Oak Common and Nine Elms combined.

The catalyst for the development is the extension of the DLR to Thamesmead, plans for which are scheduled to be finalised later this year.

Last year, Peabody said that the new transport link would unlock the potential for 11,500 homes – and Mr Lewis said commercial property would also benefit from the new rail line extension.

“The town centre doesn’t really fully offer what it should do to support the 48,000 people here already,” he said earlier this year.

“And if you think about doubling the population, then you put in a public transport network; it really does offer us a huge investment opportunity to create what we’re calling Thamesmead Waterfront.”

Peabody’s website states: “Thamesmead has experienced mixed fortunes since the first families moved to the town in 1968 and its progress has been stalled for many years.

“Yet Thamesmead has the potential to be one of London’s most dynamic new towns, with an existing community of 46,000 people, beautiful green spaces, excellent schools and unrivalled space and scale.

“Peabody’s landholdings and unique blend of assets mean that for the first time in a generation, Thamesmead’s full potential as London’s new town can be realised.

“Our land holdings offer the opportunity to deliver 20,000 new homes, thousands of new high value jobs, plus a new leisure, cultural and commercial offer for the town and for London.

“What’s more, our patient and comprehensive approach will ensure the existing community is at the heart of the development and the core of everything we do.”