Berkeley Homes beats three firms to win £150m residential element of Royal Arsenal factory regeneration scheme in south-east London.
Berkeley homes has won a competition to redevelop part of the derelict Royal Arsenal munitions factory in Woolwich, south-east London, to create 700 homes.

The £150m scheme, designed by Broadway Malyan, was chosen by English Partnerships from a shortlist of four, including Barratt Homes, Fairview Homes and Wilcon Homes.

The 60 000 m² scheme is part of a £240m, 31 ha mixed-use regeneration masterplan completed in January by Llewelyn-Davies. English Partnerships, which took over ownership of the Royal Arsenal site from the Ministry of Defence in 1997, commissioned the masterplan with Greenwich council and the Woolwich Development Agency.

Berkeley Homes' riverside residential scheme will incorporate four grade II-listed buildings dating back to 1806. It will also include a 1 ha park, extensive landscaping and will border on to a riverside walkway.

A spokesperson for Berkeley Homes said: "We will refurbish the listed buildings – long, narrow buildings of three and four storeys, with stone facades and square internal courtyards. The buildings complement the style and scale of the existing structures." It will start on site in October and is scheduled to be completed in 2005.

English Partnerships has invested £44m in the Royal Arsenal masterplan, including £16m in infrastructure works, services and building refurbishment that are scheduled to be completed in October. The masterplan has also received European Regional Development Fund and Department for Trade and Industry grants. Morrison Developments has submitted a planning application for a leisure scheme on a 4.69 ha site at the Royal Arsenal, including a hotel, health and fitness centre, multiplex cinema, shops and restaurants. The scheme, which straddles the Royal Arsenal site and an adjoining one owned by Greenwich council, will start later this year.

IO Group is preferred developer for the 8.4 ha commercial element of the masterplan, which includes light industrial uses and 25 000 m² of offices. A speculative 15 000 m² phase of offices will start on site at the end of 2000. IT, research and development and educational facilities are also proposed for the site, including Stephen Hawking's Space and Time Museum.

  • Crest Nicholson is to appoint a new masterplanner for its Bristol city centre redevelopment to replace Arup Associates. Arup is no longer involved in the project after the plan failed to obtain planning approval. There will now be a competition between six firms. It is understood that these include Terry Farrell & Partners, Rick Mather Architects and Foster and Partners.

    The new attempt to gain planning approval will include what Crest claims will be one of the largest public consultation programmes in the UK.

    A committee of 20 members is to be selected from political parties, lobby groups, ethnic minorities and voluntary organisations.