Ex-Quintain chief executive Max James is teaming up with the GLA to build 7,000 homes on a riverside site at London’s Royal Docks, E16.
The joint venture between James’s Silvertown Homes and the GLA has submitted an environmental impact assessment to Newham Council to develop the 50-acre Thameside West site.
The scheme’s 7,000 homes would make it one of the densest developments in the capital, dwarfing nearby sites.
Across the river from the proposed scheme on Greenwich Peninsula, Knight Dragon is proposing 16,000 homes on around 150 acres, while half a mile to the east, Ballymore’s Royal Wharf delivered just over 4,000 homes on around 45 acres. Wembley Park’s 7,000 rental homes are spread across 85 acres.
Joint ownership
The GLA owns the site jointly with Silvertown Homes, which was formerly controlled by Quintain but was not included in the sale of Quintain to Lone Star in 2015.
James managed to hold on to the site following the Lone Star deal, taking ownership of Silvertown Homes. The current directors of Silvertown are also listed as directors at Keystone Partners, James’s development vehicle, which was established in 2016.
Former investment banker James was hired by Quintain in 2011 and replaced head Adrian Wyatt in 2012. He then began an aggressive sell-off to reduce gearing, selling the Greenwich Peninsula scheme to Knight Dragon, but retaining Wembley Park.
Private equity giant Lone Star then bought Quintain in 2015, and James was replaced by Lone Star’s Angus Dodd in 2016.
The site will be home to the new Silvertown road tunnel river crossing scheme and includes the former Carlsberg Tetley site.
The EIA said: “Silvertown Homes and GLA Land and Property intend to submit a hybrid planning application seeking planning permission for a mixed-use development aiming to provide up to 7,000 new homes along with a new primary school.”
The Foster + Partners-designed plans for Thameside West also call for 75,000 sq ft of shops and restaurants and 32,000 sq ft of community uses, as well as a four-form primary school.
The River Thames fronting site in the Royal Docks also sets aside around 110,000 sq ft for industrial uses, as well as 100,000 sq ft of office space which is planned for under the arches of the Silvertown road flyover.
A decision on the Silvertown tunnel link to the Greenwich Peninsula is the responsibility of central government and is expected on 10 May, having been pushed back from October last year due to concerns about air quality.
Silvertown Tunnel
Planning documents state: “It is anticipated that the Silvertown Tunnel will commence in 2019 (if approved) and be complete and operational by 2023. Phase 1 would therefore commence in 2020.”
The Thameside West site sits next to Peruvian Wharf, where Galliard and Cain International failed to convince the GLA to loosen its Strategic Industrial Land policy for their 1000-home scheme.
The pair then cancelled the scheme and sold the site to Gazeley, which plans to build 426,000 sq ft of logistics space inside a three-storey warehouse, the first of its kind in the UK.
The GLA has made clear in the London plan that it wishes to encourage dense development around transport nodes to avoid building on the green belt and to conserve industrial land.
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