Ballymore and Hammerson’s plans to create a King’s Cross-style neighbourhood on the fringe of London’s Square Mile are finally set to be decided upon five years after their Goodsyard scheme was initially called in by then-mayor Boris Johnson.
The planned development, at Bishopsgate Goodsyard, E1, has been significantly altered since the £800m proposals were unveiled in 2014, with the focus switching from residential to offices. London mayor Sadiq Khan is expected to make a decision on the plans on 3 December.
The current plans comprise 1.4m sq ft of workspace, of which 105,000 sq ft will be affordable at 60% of market rent. The number of homes in the scheme now sits at 500, down from 1,350. However, the affordable provision has increased from 15% to 50%.
John Mulryan, Ballymore’s managing director, says the changes have been “dramatic”, adding that the shift to office from residential was driven by feedback on the original plans. Hackney Council in particular, he says, “felt the site was more appropriate for workspace”.
The density has also been reduced and the tallest point of the scheme shortened from 46 storeys to 29. All these revisions required a reduction in the number of homes, Mulryan says.
Objections remain
Even so, councils in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, which the development straddles, have maintained objections to the proposals. Both councils support redevelopment of the site, which has lain dormant for around 60 years. But for Hackney Council the height and massing of the buildings, as well as the impact on heritage assets, are still issues, while Tower Hamlets considers the mixture and lack of housing in the latest plans problematic.
“This is an area that people care a lot about,” Mulryan says. “You are never going to keep everybody happy, but the reality is that the amendments we have made to this application over last three years have gone a huge way towards meeting, I would say, most people’s aspirations in terms of what this project should be.
“I don’t think you can do much more in terms of provision of affordable housing.”
Robin Dobson, director of UK development and project management at Hammerson, adds that to deliver all the benefits provided by the scheme, including the restoration of the historic Braithwaite arches, a new east to west pedestrian route and financial contributions costing up to £60m need to be delivered. As well as cultural space and the affordable workspace and housing, “a certain amount of commercial elements” also needs to be factored in, he adds.
With only a third of the 10-acre site capable of being built on, certain massing and height is required to make any scheme viable, Dobson says. But he believes that a number of concerns can be addressed during the next stage of planning following the decision on the outline planning application by the GLA.
Developing in the age of Covid
Despite the impact on working practices from the Covid-19 pandemic, Dobson believes the current plans for the Goodsyard incorporate enough different uses to make the development truly mixed and therefore sustainable and attractive to occupiers, including a 2.6-acre highline park.
In discussing the joint venture’s goals for creating a new community, he suggests the Goodsyard could become “the next King’s Cross, for the City”.
“[It has] the ability to create its own ecosystem, to create its own local community, mixing commercial office space with local office space, mixing housing with hotel – mixing it with, importantly, a vast amount of public space, which doesn’t exist anywhere in that part of London,” he says.
“Covid-19 has effectively accelerated the importance of creating balanced or mixed-use locations,” he adds. “Workspace buildings are ultimately dependent upon the space and the place around them.”
Subject to gaining approval for the outline plans, Ballymore and Hammerson will look to work up a reserved matters planning application by the end of next year and are aiming for “a meaningful start” on site within 18 to 24 months.
Dobson says the joint venture is committed to delivering the project but declines to say whether investment from other parties will be needed. He acknowledges, however, that “there are lots of opportunities and there’s no shortage of interest from other parties for the project”.
For now, though, he hopes that the “importance of making positive decisions on regeneration projects of this scale and complexity in this market” is recognised: “We need a positive commitment to be able to move forward to allow further investment in this part of London to be activated.”
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