News

The scheme by Notting Hill Housing and Sellar Developments will deliver a new town centre with 1,030 new homes and a range of commercial and community uses across a seven acre site.

The development will include:

• 453 private sale homes
• 346 private rent homes
• 162 affordable rent homes
• 69 Shared Ownership homes

The site is adjacent to Canada Water underground station and the dock, between London Bridge and Canary Wharf.

It will also include 150,000sqft of retail and commercial space, including a cinema, bars, restaurants, office space and a 100,000sqft Decathlon store.

Rising up to 18 storeys, phase one of the development includes 234 apartments for private rent and the Decathlon store with basement car park.

Utilising a post-tensioned structural solution to provide the expansive spans required by the ground floor store, the contract will see Ardmore construct the store to shell and core, ready for fit out by Decathlon, before mounting tower cranes on the roof to enable the store to trade whilst Ardmore completes the building above it.

Chris Langdon, Ardmore Development Director, said: “We are thrilled to have been selected for the first phase of Project Light, which promises to be a landmark development for Canada Water.

“I am delighted to build on our excellent relationship with Notting Hill Housing, and I am looking forward to working with Sellar Developments to help transform another part of London.”

John Hughes, Group Development Director at Notting Hill Housing said: “The award of this build contract to Ardmore represents a significant milestone in the development of this major town centre site at Canada Water.

“We look forward to delivering a high quality development which will positively contribute to the regeneration of the area.”

James Sellar, Chief Executive Officer at Sellar Developments added: “Our vision is to create a vibrant new urban neighbourhood through thoughtful design, the introduction of green spaces, enhancement of the waters-edge, independent retail and events benefitting both residents and the wider community.”

Reporting 18% growth in completions to 2,178 in the first half of the year, Redrow chairman Steve Morgan said central London was the only place in the country where the house builder had seen a slowdown.

The overall rise in output helped Redrow to deliver record first-half profits of £104m, up 14%, on turnover ahead 8% at £603m.

Morgan said: “We are only at the beginning of the spring selling season, however demand for new homes remains robust.

“We ended the first half with a record order book up 51% on this time last year, and in the first six weeks of the second half have secured 455 private reservations, 10% ahead of last year.

“In the period, the average selling price of our private homes increased 2% due to the shift of our London business away from high priced Central London apartments to concentrate more on the outer London commuter market where demand remains strong. “

He added: “The only area where we have seen a slow-down is in Central London.  However, this is only having a limited effect on the group as we made the decision some time ago to re-focus our London business on outer London where the demand is from the local market and remains robust.”

Outside London Redrow’s private average selling price increased by 11% to £300,000 due to a combination of geographical mix change, reduction of impaired sites and price inflation.

Since the end of December Redrow obtained planning consent on tits Colindale site in North London converting a further 2,900 plots from forward to current land.

Morgan said the firm continued to invest heavily in land with total plots 18% ahead at 21,435 plotscompared to the summer.

Designs from Eric Parry architects plan the demolition of the headquarters of insurance giant Aviva to make way a 73-storey twoer at 1 Undershaft.

It will rise to 309.6m – putting it level with the Shard’s tallest steelwork point in London Bridge.

Singapore-based developers Aroland Holdings commissioned architect Eric Parry to work up a design for the site which has now been submitted for planning approval.

The 90,000 sq m building would be able to accommodate 10,000 people and boast a viewing platform higher than that of the Shard, and London’s highest public sky restaurant.

It would stand 28m higher than the replacement tower for the Pinnacle scheme at 22 Bishopsgate.

A conceptual design by Avery Associates for the previous owner of the 1 Undershaft site proposed an angular sloping sided glass tower peaking at 270m and prompted one contractor to dub the building “The Fang”.

The new design is for a more conventional office tower block with distinctive visible structural cross bracing.

The Stage development will see Galliard Homes, in joint venture with Cain Hoy, McCourt, Vanke and The Estate Office Shoreditch transform the 2.3 acre site of William Shakespeare’s Curtain Theatre.

The scheme by architects Perkins + Will is designed around a new central 1.28 acre public square that will showcase the sunken remains of Shakespeare’s Tudor theatre.

The square will be bordered by 400,000 sq ft of mixed use space including cafes, restaurants and shops.

The scheme will also include a 37 storey residential tower providing 412 apartments, two office buildings providing over 257,000 sq ft of commercial space and retail premises at ground level and a leisure/performing arts pavilion.

An existing 19th century railway viaduct located on one side of the new square will be restored with the historic brick arches accommodating 9,000 sqft of new shops and bars.

The historic remains of the Elizabethan Curtain Theatre, dating back to 1577, have been discovered three metres below the surface of the development.

The remains and objects found during the dig will be carefully excavated, preserved and transformed into a cultural centerpiece within the development.

Main construction works are anticipated to commence in April 2016 with final build completion scheduled for Q1 2019.

John F Hunt is currently completing demolition on the site.

Stephen Conway, Chief Executive of Galliard Homes said: “The Stage will provide a world class new destination for London.

“At its heart will be a new central square, one of the largest public open spaces to be created in the capital, bordered by historic and new buildings providing cafes, restaurants, shops, offices and new homes.

“For apartment purchasers it offers the best new address in London and an exceptional lifestyle choice and long term investment opportunity.”

A three-way development joint venture between Peacocks shopping centre owner Moyallen, Surrey County Council and Woking Borough Council is seeking a principal contractor for the project to be built on land to the west of Wolsey Place shopping centre.

Their joint venture, Bandstand Square Developments, has already obtained detailed planning consent for 125,000 sq ft of retail floorspace anchored by Marks & Spencer, a 190-bed four star hotel in a 21 storey tower, 392 flats in two towers of 30 and 34 storeys.

Work on Victoria Square is set to begin in early 2017, with completion in 2020. 

Peter Robinson, managing director of Moyallen, said: “Beginning the process of appointing our principal contractor is a key stage in the delivery of Victoria Square. 

“We are seeking a contractor with the skills, expertise and understanding to deliver what will be one of the most significant developments in Surrey.  Woking town centre is going from strength-to-strength and Victoria Square is central to its future success.”

The deadline for the submission of expressions of interest is January 29. 

Interested parties should contact Billy Wallace at WH Stephens, cost managers for the development.

His decision clears the way for enabling work to start straightaway on the 347,000 sq ft regeneration scheme near to Spitalfields Market.

The developer’s plans ran into fierce opposition from local conservationists keen to protect the character of the historic Norton Folgate neighbourhood on the City fringe.

Johnson over-ruled Tower Hamlets Council, which had previously rejected the controversial scheme.

British Land plans to refurbish several existing derelict warehouse buildings and build new blocks on vacant sites to create mainly office space along with 13 shops and 40 flats.

The scheme also includes two new areas of public space, totalling 15,000 sq ft.

In a radical new policy shift, not used on this scale since Thatcher and Heseltine started London Docklands, the government will directly commission building of homes on publicly-owned land.

Its ground-breaking new policy is being rolled out as a way to fast-track homes amid growing frustration in Whitehall that large private house builders are failing to deliver enough new homes.

It will target smaller builders and contractors to deliver homes on major schemes. The plan will be backed by an extra 1.2bn fund to build 30,000 affordable starter homes on underused brownfield land by 2020.

Currently the top eight house builders provide half of all new homes. The Government now hopes to enlist an army of smaller builders to deliver its ambitious house building targets.

The first wave of up to 13,000 new homes will start on five sites in the south.

This cash will be used to help kick-start regeneration and secure planning permission in urban areas – renovating disused or under-occupied urban sites so builders can get to work without any delays.

The Prime Minister said: “Today’s package signals a huge shift in government policy. Nothing like this has been done on this scale in three decades – government rolling its sleeves up and directly getting homes built.

“Backed up with a further £1.2bn to get homes built on brownfield sites, it shows we will do everything we can to get Britain building and let more people have the security that comes with a home of their own.”