Savills has been appointed by the Greater London Authority to help it develop an industrial intensification strategy to decide between housing and industrial capacity.
The GLA is looking at how to increase house building on less-used industrial land while safeguarding industrial capacity in the city.
Savills head of economics Rory Brooke said: “One way to do this is to intensify industrial activity in multi-storey buildings so that the same amount of floorspace and capacity is provided on less land, freeing up remaining land for housing-led development.
“There is a need to understand what is holding back this new market and what can be done to encourage new schemes.”
The GLA’s existing strategic industrial land policy has already come into conflict with residential developers, notably at Peruvian Wharf, E16. https://www.egi.co.uk/news/gazeley-buys-peruvian-wharf-for-three-storey-inner-city-warehouse/
Cain International and Galliard bought the site at the beginning of 2016 from the late Cyril Dennis’s Capital & Provident and Irish bad bank Nama with the intention to build a 946-flat residential scheme while retaining the active industrial wharf frontage.
However, the site fell foul of the GLA’s changing views on strategic industrial land as it cracked down on the loss of employment and distribution space in the capital to residential development. The site was subsequently sold to Gazeley, which intends to use it as the site of the UK’s first three-storey warehouse.
The GLA is also considering using its land fund to help finance less-viable projects.
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