LONDON’S LARGEST WATERSIDE DEVELOPMENT GETS GREEN LIGHT

One of London’s largest waterside developments was given the go-ahead last night (9^th October) when the London Borough of Tower Hamlets granted outline planning consent to the Wood Wharf Limited Partnership for the redevelopment of Wharf Wood, a seven hectare site adjacent to Canary Wharf.

The Wood Wharf Limited Partnership is a joint venture between British Waterways, Ballymore Group and Canary Wharf Group.

Designed by architects Rogers, Stirk, Harbour + Partners with landscape architects Martha Schwartz Partners, the proposed masterplan will transform Wood Wharf into a vibrant mixed-use sustainable community with a range of high quality homes, offices, shops and community facilities, set within a stunning waterspace and public realm.

Wood Wharf is expected to create 25,000 new jobs, of which it is estimated that around 5,000 will be taken by local people. It will also provide 1,668 new homes including 483 affordable homes together with a new community park.

The scheme will deliver in excess of £50m worth of planning benefits for Tower Hamlets, in one of the largest community and infrastructure benefits packages (‘Section 106’) ever agreed as well as a £100m financial contribution towards the Crossrail project.

The main features of the scheme are:

Six commercial buildings providing approximately 454,000 m² (4.9 million square feet) office space;
Six residential buildings providing up to 1,668 homes including 35% affordable housing and a significant proportion of affordable family housing;
A new waterside community park;
Community amenities which will include a new Health and Wellbeing centre, Idea Store, outdoor market and recreational facilities;
A new High Street including shops, restaurants, bars and cafés as well as providing the opportunity to encourage independent and local traders;
A waterside hotel;
A new canal, waterfront boardwalks, and ecology areas;
New pedestrian and cycle links connecting Wood Wharf and the wider community to Canary Wharf.

Commenting on the Council’s decision, Jason Larkin, Wood Wharf Partnership’s Planning Director said: ‘We are delighted that Tower Hamlets has given the go-ahead for this exciting scheme. The redevelopment of Wood Wharf will create one of the world’s finest urban waterfront quarters. The creation of jobs, homes, and investment in community infrastructure will make this one of the largest and most important regeneration projects in London and provide huge benefits to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

‘We were delighted with the strong support shown for the scheme from local residents and the Council and look forward to working with them to make the vision a reality.’

The redevelopment of Wood Wharf will take place over the next 10 to 15 years in four development phases. Reserved matters applications for phase one will be submitted during 2009.

Quatro directed the Partnership's programme of public consultation, including the distribution of over 36,000 newsletters and a 2-week public exhibition in autumn 2007.

For more information visit the Wood Wharf website and see the Quatro Case Study.

Friday 10 October 2008