The future of the £1.5bn regeneration of Silvertown Quays in
The 59-acre, mixed-use project is to be part-funded by the sale of onsite housing, but a 31% drop in residential sales over the past year has forced partners Silvertown Quays and US-based regeneration company KUD International to rethink their delivery schedule.
Work on the first tranche of 300 homes has been pushed back until the beginning of 2009, as talks with potential housebuilding partners including Barratt, Countryside and Crest Nicholson continue.
A total of 5,000 homes are planned for the site.
The construction of Biota! –the 150,000 sq ft Terry Farrell-designed aquarium, which is funded by HBOS – has also been delayed for a year, as Silvertown does not want the aquarium to be operational with the rest of the site empty.
Silvertown chairman and former English Partnerships chief executive David Taylor said: “We are in a much more difficult market so are rethinking the timetable. But it is a relatively short-term delay for a 10-15-year project.”
One source said: “With housing starts down 50% this year, the most difficult schemes to get off the ground are those with flats because of the upfront investment required.
“You need to have deep pockets to get a start in this market.”
It is not the first hold-up for the 5.3m sq ft project, which got final planning permission from Newham council only in May last year following a two-year negotiation of the s106 agreement.
The completed scheme will also include 516,000 sq ft of commercial development.
