The property market may be a bit weaker just now, with the latest Halifax House Price Index showing London house prices dipped by 0.2 per cent over the past year, but demand for building supplies in London looks set to remain high as developers continue to look to the longer-term future.
East London in particular continues to see new developments as the regeneration of areas such as the docklands continues. While places like Canary Wharf began this process many years ago, others like Canning Town are in the midst of it now.
Recent developments include the Leamouth Peninsula, but the Crown Wharf site, just to the north beyond the East India Dock Road flyover, is the focus of what may be the next big development. Barratt London has just submitted a planning application for an 871-home scheme.
The plans would involve the construction of seven blocks ranging between eight and 30 storeys in height, with the proposed schedule involving six years of building work between 2025 and 2030. Barratt London is confident that its plans will be passed, with a public consultation on the scheme finding 80 per cent of respondents were in favour of the project.
The materials used in the towers will vary, with the two tallest buildings being grey and the others clad in red brick.
However, the construction work will not all be focused on reaching for the sky and adding to the ever-rising east London skyline; the location by the tidal Bow Creek on the lowest reaches of the Lea before it flows into the Thames means that better flood defences are needed.
The current sheet metal defences in the vicinity are rusting and will need replacing as part of the project.
As the east of the capital sees a range of regeneration projects and provides brownfield land for new housing, the need to serve its growing population well will depend on good flood protection by waterways. But it will also require excellent transport links.
The Crown Wharf site is already well served by the latter, being close to both Canning Town rail, Tube and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) Station and Star Lane on the DLR. The latter transport system carries on to Silvertown, another area ripe for redevelopment.
With the Elizabeth Line reaching this area at Custom House, which also has a DLR station, the 6,500 homes planned for the Royal Docks in this area will have easy access to central London and beyond.
However, to make the stations themselves easier to reach, the Silvertown Partnership has just submitted a planning application for a new cycling and pedestrian bridge for the Royal Victoria Dock.
The bridge will have a bending ‘double S’ design and will offer a much better crossing of the dock than the existing bridge, which requires access via climbing steps or using lifts.
Giving Silvertown a new lease of life will not just mean new buildings, but also the restoration of the old Millennium Mills building as a centrepiece of the new community that will emerge in the area.