Westfield has gained planning approval from the London Legacy Development Corporation for an extension to its Stratford, E20, shopping centre, along with more than 1,000 homes.
An extra 97,000 sq ft (9,000 sq m) of retail space will be attached to the south of the shopping centre, on a site known as Cherry Park, fronting both Westfield Avenue and Montfichet Road. The whole of the added retail space will be a three-storey anchor store for a single operator. Planning documents state “while discussions have been had with a number of interested retail operators, a specific tenant has not been identified”.
Along with the added retail, 1,224 flats, all for the build to rent market, will be built in a series of towers. Three towers of 20, 26 and 36 storeys stand out from smaller blocks of around nine to 13 storeys.
Due to the housing being all private, a £30m s106 payment is due to Newham Council. The project had been withdrawn from committee a month earlier, after the council recommended refusal due to the lack of affordable housing. A similar proposal with just £21m for off-site affordable housing was previously on offer.
The revised offer of £30m received in-principle support from both the Greater London Authority and Newham planning officers. Committee documents show LLDC planning policy officers are of the view that “a financial contribution of £34m would be equivalent to the provision of 20% of the residential units as affordable housing” and that “this is the maximum viable affordable housing contribution that can be made by the applicant”.
Along with Westfield’s two other major London schemes in Shepherd’s Bush, W12 (under construction) and the Whitgift Centre in Croydon, (recently submitted), all three look set to become a test bed for the company’s expansion in to residential development.
Westfield Stratford City is Europe’s largest urban shopping and leisure destination. It has a footfall of 42m pa and provides about 8,000 jobs.
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