Newham Council has secured approval to refresh the 1960s-built James Riley Point.
The 23-storey building will be stripped back to its concrete frame and redeveloped to provide 136 sustainable homes.
The £1bn revamp comes as part of newly re-elected mayor Rokhsana Fiaz’s plan housing agenda to provide affordable homes to Newham residents. She has promised 1,500 new council homes to the people of Newham to be delivered over the next four years.
Fiaz said: “I’ll now get cracking with the council and Populo Living teams to drive the restoration programme, so families in Newham can move in and we show the actions we are taking to build a fairer Newham, with a £1bn investment to help change lives by providing high quality, sustainable homes that local people can afford.”
Ninety-four per cent of the homes will be provided at social rent and London Affordable Rent. The council’s wholly-owned housing delivery company, Populo Living, will start work on the building in the coming months.
Lizzie Le Mare, director of Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, which is leading the Carpenters Estate project team and acting as planning consultant, said: “The planning application is the result of years of careful thought and consultation with residents, and the decision to repurpose an existing building means some local history and identity can be retained while still providing high quality homes to modern standards with significant environmental benefits.”
Proctor & Matthews designed the new tower, and ECD Architects will bring the homes up to Passivhaus standards. Populo Living will also construct a new community centre, sports hall, five-a-side football pitch and facilities for an after-school club and café.
The homes will be offered to existing residents of the Carpenters Estate and those with a right to return. The four homeowners living at James Riley Point will be temporarily rehoused during refurbishment work and will be offered new homes in the development.
Andrew Matthews, director at Proctor & Matthews Architects, said: “Newham’s brief allowed us to design an innovative refurbishment of this 1960s tower combined with new build community and sports facilities that, in consultation with residents, provided an opportunity to completely rethink this historic building’s place in the wider plan.
“The retention of such a large structure helps meet the council’s commitment to carbon reduction while delivering homes that meet modern standards. I feel sure it will be a benchmark for the reuse of similar buildings across the UK.”
Newham Council plans to invest up to £1.2bn in Populo Living’s housing projects over the next 15 years for the delivery of 7,400 homes by 2040, with 70 per cent of new homes at social rent levels.
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