Mayor Ken may be cracking the whip to archive his housing targets, but London’s mega-schemes still face planning hurdles. By Bridget O’Connell
Battersea Power Station (B)
Treasury Holdings has become the latest developer to take on the 38-acre site, which has a chequered planning history and has lain derelict since it closed as a power station 24 years ago. In November, Treasury Holdings paid Victor Hwang’s Oriental Property £400m for the London icon and promised to develop it “as quickly as possible”.
Oriental Property had existing consent for a 1.46m sq ft entertainment, leisure and retail venue within the power station, as well as two hotels, 750 flats, and 750,000 sq ft of offices and exhibition space, and had won a controversial section 106 agreement from Wandsworth council to clarify the level of repair required for the site.
Last month, however, Ken Livingstone threatened to reject part of the proposed redevelopment. More-over, Treasury Holdings announced it would “comprehensively review” Parkview’s plans, perhaps signalling further delays.
Form: Seen as a long shot
Elephant & Castle (E&C)
Developers are still fighting it out to become Southwark council’s partner on the £1.5bn regeneration that has been on the cards since 1999. Two remaining consortia, led by St Modwen and Lend Lease, respectively, have lodged their final-stage bids for the mixed-use scheme that includes 5,300 homes and 800,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space.
The regeneration plan, developed by Ken Shuttleworth’s MAKE, involves the demolition of 1,200 council estate homes and the infamous Elephant & Castle shopping centre, as well as the realignment of the central road system.
Numerous parties have dropped out of the tendering process, which began in 1999, but for those that have stuck with it 2007 will bring a decision from Southwark.
The decision cannot come soon enough for E&C occupiers. After continual delays from Southwark council, one occupier started a £2m refurbishment of his property.
Form: An each-way bet
Ebbsfleet (E)
Ultimately, some 10,000 homes will be built in the town, located on the north Kent side of the Thames Gateway. The 8.5m sq ft Land Securities scheme surrounding the railway station has the potential for 4m sq ft of offices, alongside shops, a hotel, leisure facilities and 3,400 homes.
At the beginning of 2006, LandSec appointed Countryside properties as a joint venture partner for the first phase – the Springhead quarter – which will comprise around 600 homes. Work on the ground is due to begin in 2007.
Adam Cunnington, development director at LandSec, is optimistic that the Eastern Quarry scheme, between Ebbsfleet and Bluewater, will get outline planning permission in 2007, after five years of efforts to resolve the outstanding issues.
Ebbsfleet’s prospects are looking brighter after the Thames Gateway RDA named it one of the key development locations.
Form: Second favourite
Greenwich Peninsula (GP)
This is the site of a £5bn, 20-year regeneration project to create a new urban district. The mixed-use development includes more than 10,000 new homes, 3.5m sq ft of commercial space, 360,000 sq ft of shops and a hotel on the land surrounding the Millennium Dome.
Last September, Quintain Estates and Lend Lease selected Bellway Homes to build the residential first phase and 2007 is set to be a productive year, with the first houses due to be delivered in 2008.
Form: Shortening all the time
King’s Cross (KX)
With all consents and section 106s agreed, the Argent scheme is undergoing a period of three-month judicial review. Planning permission has been given, irrespective of any objections that may be made, and Argent is pressing ahead with approved matters for enabling works, including road relocation and adjustment. Discussions are being held with the University College of Arts for a pre-let of the Granary complex.
Argent chief executive Roger Madelin says work will be undertaken on this complex and two residential buildings in 2007 and he hopes work will begin on one or two commercial buildings. This is despite the failure of Islington and Camden councils to reach an agreement over the amount of housing to be built on the 2.3-acre Triangle site – the only part of the 64.5-acre project under Islington’s remit – and the efforts of a local campaign group, which is threatening to apply for judicial review of the scheme.
Look out for the opening of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and new Thameslink station, which could make all the difference to the running.
Form: Evens
Stratford City Olympic Village (SCOV)
Australian shopping centre developer Westfield must announce who will develop the majority of this £4bn project this year.
Wrangles over a reduction in the company’s £120m section 106 payment have delayed a decision over preferred development partner, a choice between Lend Lease and French construction group Bouygues in partnership with Barratt Homes.
In the new year, Westfield, which took sole control of the development rights of the 180-acre site in early 2006, is also expected to lodge overdue plans for the first phase of a 1.5m sq ft shopping centre and 1,040 homes. And it must deliver – with the fixed deadline of 2012 for this project to be complete, work needs to start by autumn of next year to avoid Olympics Armageddon.
Form: Will win, but everyone loses their shirt
