Developer Areli and British Airways Pension Trustees secured approval from Tower Hamlets for the scheme, which will see the site’s existing 17-storey office block, built in the early 1990s, demolished.

This will be replaced with what the developer describes as the UK’s largest integrated multi-tenure residential scheme.

Designed by Patel Taylor, the project will combine build to rent homes, serviced apartments, co-living accommodation, intermediate housing and social rented homes within a single development, creating one of London’s broadest housing offers.

Consultants on the 190m tall tower project, which will be a concrete frame structure, include quantity surveyor Gardiner & Theobald and engineer Aecom, which is providing structural and building services design.

The scheme will also provide more than 3,100 sq m of publicly accessible open space in a three-storey podium building, including new Dockside Garden and Community Garden areas, almost 200 sq m of community space and 430 sq m of retail floorspace.

Residents will have access to co-working space, a cinema, gym, swimming pool, shared kitchens, lounges and landscaped terraces.

Areli estimates the development will support around 2,200 construction jobs each year during the build programme before creating 151 full-time equivalent operational jobs once complete.

Three-storey podium at 77 Marsh Wall

Founder and chief executive Rob Tincknell, who established Areli in 2018 after leading the Battersea Power Station regeneration, said: “We’re extremely pleased to have secured consent for 77 Marsh Wall, which allows us to move ahead with delivering a scheme that brings together a genuinely broad range of homes that make this development the largest of its kind in the UK, alongside a fully integrated on-site affordable housing offer.”

He added that the approval was Areli’s fourth major residential planning consent in the past 12 months, taking the developer’s consented pipeline to almost 3,000 homes.

Construction timing and the main contractor procurement programme have yet to be announced.

Designed by Squire & Partners, the scheme would regenerate the 2.05ha rail-surrounded site between Stratford Station and Stratford International that has remained vacant since serving as coach parking during the 2012 Olympic Games.

The development would combine around 2,100 shared living homes with 1,600 hotel rooms, two performance venues, immersive entertainment spaces and new public squares across three buildings ranging from 31 to 47 storeys.

Hallmark said the project is intended to create a new cultural destination for east London, anchored by 20,000 sq m of immersive attractions, galleries and exhibition space.

Plans also include a food hall, restaurants and bars, public art installations, and a landmark events piazza linked by new pedestrian routes through the site.

Two flexible live venues would accommodate audiences of between 1,200 and 4,300 people.

The developer will launch a fresh round of public consultation later this month before preparing a planning application for submission to Newham Council this autumn.

Subject to consent, a temporary meanwhile use is expected to open on the site later this year.

Firma Partners has provided funding to DPK Group for the conversion of the Royal Albert Dock office complex in East London into a Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) scheme with a GDV of £300m.

The loan will finance refurbishment of 20 buildings at the riverfront Docklands site which were originally constructed by Brookfield Multiplex for Chinese developer ABP which collapsed in 2022 leaving the scheme vacant.

The conversion will predominantly be internal fit-out works with no structural changes required and is expected to be completed over an 18-month construction programme with practical completion targeted for Q3 2027.

Victor Librae, Chief Executive of Firma Partners, said: “Royal Albert Dock is an extremely compelling opportunity that combines a genuine undersupply of student accommodation, a very strong institutional operator and a strategically located waterfront asset with incredible regeneration potential.

“The conversion of vacant, high-quality office space into modern PBSA is exactly the kind of complex, value-unlocking repositioning project Firma was set up to support. We are delighted to partner with DPK Group on such a placemaking scheme that will make a meaningful contribution to London’s quality student housing supply.”

David Maxwell, founder of DPK Group, added: “Royal Albert Dock is a unique asset with exceptional connectivity and strong potential as a student-led campus environment. Firma Partners understood the complexity and opportunity of this unique project and provided a tailored financing strategy that supports realistic delivery.”

The new vehicle, branded the Impact Partnership Joint Venture, will initially take control of the Euston, Silvertown and Stratford Cross regeneration schemes, with a dedicated development management company established to oversee delivery.

Together the first three projects will provide around 9,000 homes and more than 7m sq ft of commercial, science and innovation space.

Work will move quickly, with construction due to start in September on 326 affordable homes at the 60-acre Silvertown development in East London.

At the Euston station redevelopment, a planning application is targeted for spring 2027.

The partners also confirmed Birmingham Smithfield and Thamesmead Waterfront are expected to join the venture later this summer, expanding the pipeline to around 27,500 homes and almost 10m sq ft of commercial floorspace.

Infrastructure work at Smithfield is due to start later this year, with temporary markets beginning early next year ahead of the first residential block starting in 2027.

Lendlease managing director, development UK and Italy, Andrea Ruckstuhl said: “The commencement of the Impact Partnership Joint Venture Fund and creation of a new Development Management platform marks a major milestone for our UK business.

“Together with The Crown Estate, we’ve established a long-term vehicle to unlock some of the UK’s most important regeneration opportunities with a shared commitment to creating places that deliver lasting value for investors and communities.”

The Crown Estate chief executive Dan Labbad said the partnership would accelerate delivery of complex regeneration schemes while creating a platform capable of bringing forward future housing and commercial developments across the country.