Good news from the Royal Docks, E16. Not, unfortunately, from the 67-acre Silvertown being masterminded by Sir Stuart Lipton. Persuading global brands to lease 50,000-100 000 sq ft “embassies” to display their wares is proving a long job. Never mind, the 3,000 homes planned will keep everyone occupied for quite a while. No, the good news is the revelation that the moonscape north of City Airport is to become a peaceful part of a Chinese strategic objective to form a 21st century seaborne “silk route” from Asia to Europe.
Dock-watchers will know that last October David Cameron and president Xi Jinping of China presented themselves at a ceremony where Chinese builder CITIC took a 25% stake in the 35 acres and promised to build the 4.7m sq ft of space for Chinese trading companies.
In March, Sri Lanka granted permission for China to build a vast and highly contentious “port city” on reclaimed land in the island’s capital, Colombo, dubbed “an environmental disaster” by opponents. In April, the sale of the Piraeus Port Authority to the Chinese had striking dockworkers marching in protest at £297m state sale, forced by austerity measures. Now Greek’s biggest and most ancient port is in the hands of China’s COSCO shipping corporation.
Back in the Royal Docks, the construction contract for the first 600,000 sq ft to be built by CITIC will be announced soon, along with a firmed-up list of which Chinese firms are taking space. There will be few objections in Newham.
The value of Old Oak
Noteworthy news from Victoria Hills, who is coming out of purdah just under a year after being confirmed as chief executive of the Old Oak Common and Park Royal Development Corporation. The 2,224 acres at Old Oak Common are best thought of in planning terms as the west London equivalent of the Royal Docks, minus water, plus the 1,112-acre Park Royal trading estate, and (eventually) a gigantic rail terminal where HS2 and Crossrail will meet.
The land that currently matters is the 331 acres around the station, on which 24,000 homes are to be built. Of those 331 acres, 240 belong to a mix of National Rail, Department for Transport, Hammersmith and Fulham Council and HS2. Hills told an audience at an Urban Land Institute conference at Goldman Sachs’ offices in Fleet Street, EC4, that these public acres are in the process of being transferred to the OPDC.
Ears pricked up. At what price? was the immediate thought of many. At existing-use value (fit only for stacking secondhand cars) to allow the corporation to thrive on the profits? Or at a price that factors in future-use value, (30-storey blocks of flats) which will lumber Hills with onerous financial targets? Not a question that Hills felt able to answer. But it later transpired that the Treasury is involved in the negotiations. Gawd.
Khan’s blunt spear
Much angst among London developers over the switch from laissez-faire Conservative mayor Boris Johnston, to the dirigisme of Labour’s Sadiq Khan, who promises to interfere with the sanctity of the free market through the lefty actions of fresh-faced Islington councillor James Murray. The new deputy mayor for housing is to “spearhead” Khan’s “ambitious housing programme”.
Ignore all wishful thinking on the topic, Khan’s spear couldn’t puncture a peach. Why would developers strain to meet public targets dictated by politicians, rather than stick to their own targets, dictated by the needs of shareholders? If any genius has an answer, send it on a postcard to City Hall. Then send another to housing minister Brandon Lewis, who suffers from the same delusions.
Ballymore’s bathing beauty
Picture this: media-shy Ballymore boss Sean Mulryan in bathers, plunging into a glass pool 35m up in the air between two blocks of his flats in Nine Elms, SW8. How everyone laughed when the plans were published last summer. Surely this top-of-the-market notion would shatter in the coming downturn. To dispel any notion that the pool will be scuppered, Mulryan has promised to take the first dip. When? Not sure.
