The last parcel of land at Peruvian Wharf in London’s Royal Docks has been sold to L&Q, putting an end to Galliard Homes and Cain International’s interest in the site and concluding a long-running planning saga.
L&Q has paid £22.5m for the last 1.6 acres of the site on North Woolwich Road, E16, which will accommodate around 230 affordable and private apartments. Knight Frank’s City and East Residential Development division advised the housing association, which also has sites at nearby Royal Wharf.
Galliard and Cain bought the 15-acre site of one of London’s last working wharves for a £500m, residential-led project from Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency at the beginning of 2016.
Nama controlled the site as a result of owning debt taken out by a previous owner, Cyril Dennis’s Capital & Provident. Plans to bring forward a 1,000-home scheme, retaining the active wharf frontage, had been stalled since before the onset of the global financial crisis.
In 2017, before new planning permission could be obtained for a 946-home scheme (pictured), the site fell foul of a change in GLA strategy aimed at reducing the loss of industrial and employment land.
Peruvian Wharf was not the only site to be affected by the Strategic Industrial Land initiative, but it was arguably the most high profile.
In the end, rather than trying to find a planning compromise, and amid strong interest from alternative users, the pair sold the majority of the site in April to Gazeley, which intends to build one of the first three-storey sheds in the UK, totalling 425,000 sq ft, on the six acres it bought.
With the active waterfront already returned to the Port of London Authority, the L&Q deal marks the end of a long-running battle for the site and debate over what its future use should be.
James Barton, City and East Residential Development partner at Knight Frank, said: “The acquisition of this prominent site is further evidence of the strength of demand for residential opportunities in east London and, in particular, the Royal Docks and Silvertown area.
“In addition, it demonstrates L&Q’s ambitious ongoing acquisition strategy in London.”
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