St William has submitted an EIA application for 2,800 homes for the Poplar gasworks site on Leven Road, E14, in what will be its biggest scheme to date.
The joint venture between Berkeley Homes and National Grid was set up in 2014 to build around 17,000 new homes across 33 redundant gasholder sites in and around the capital and southern England, most of which are within the M25.
Since its formation St William has exchanged contracts on 15 sites, which will provide 8,830 new homes.
The development of gasworks has proved fruitful for both joint venture partners and has added to the number of homes in the capital, but developing them is far from straightforward both in terms of construction and public perception.
The Poplar site in Tower Hamlets lies close to Canning Town, E16, as does Berkeley’s site on Stephenson Street, which has consent for 3,800 homes. That site also lies next to another gasholder site, owned by St William, where another 2,000 homes could be built and are expected to come forward in due course.
The scheme will provide 35% affordable housing, along with 120,000 sq ft of commercial space in total. A 2.5-acre riverside park and riverside walk fronting Bow Creek is also planned, as well as a new secondary school.
Phase one will encompass around 600 homes, 65,000 sq ft of mixed-use space (A1 to A4, B1 and D1 use classes) and a new public square.
A number of phases of remediation and demolition works have taken place on the former gasholder site in preparation for development. The entire scheme is anticipated to be built over approximately 20 years.
The site is in the Poplar Riverside Housing Zone, allocated in October 2015 to deliver 6,404 homes as part of the London mayor’s Lower Lea Valley Opportunity Area. The Draft London Plan (December 2017) introduces the Poplar Riverside Opportunity Area, which incorporates the Poplar Riverside Housing Zone and has the potential to deliver 9,000 new homes.
A growing gasworks pipeline
The Oval gasworks scheme, recently granted consent by Lambeth Council, is being undertaken by Berkeley Homes, rather than St William.
Most of the former National Grid sites are to the north of the River Thames, while those to the south are almost all under the remit of Southern Gas Networks.
Industrial heritage
As more former gasholder schemes come forward, so too do local voices objecting to such proposals. Recent petitions to “save” gasholders in Bethnal Green and Poplar garnered around 1,900 signatures.
Argent’s 145-flat Gasholders scheme in King’s Cross, where it dismantled, cleaned and rebuilt gasholders with homes within the structures, also came under scrutiny from local residents prior to its redevelopment.
The latest example south of the Thames is in Sydenham, where SGN proposes demolishing two gasholders.
Tom Copley, London Assembly member at the GLA and Labour’s housing spokesman, said of the site at Bell Green: “The developer is planning to pull them down and replace them with a supermarket. Local people have a better idea: retain them and build housing inside, as happened to the gasholders at King’s Cross.”
At Lewisham’s full council meeting this week, Copley, a borough councillor, tabled a question on using council powers to protect local listed buildings, which the gasholders are, referring to the prior notification application to demolish the structures, as “a planning loophole”.
Whether opponents to the demolition of such structures are seeking to protect heritage or are opposed to new housing more broadly is hard to gauge, but revamping industrial relics is not always as easy as some, including St William, may have first thought.
To send feedback e-mail paul.wellman@egi.co.uk or tweet @paulwellman eg or @estatesgazette
