Mayor says job in Newham first in ‘major pipeline’ of sites to be unlocked through Singapore-style development arm
The Mayor of London has announced a £100m equity investment in a major regeneration scheme in London as City Hall becomes an active developer for the first time.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) will take a 50% stake in the Silvertown Partnership alongside Lendlease and deliver 7,000 new homes on the site of the Royal Docks in Newham. Around 1,000 of the new homes are expected to be under construction by 2028.
The investment is the first under Sadiq Khan’s new ‘City Hall Developer’ initiative, which he says is influenced by a “Singapore-style” approach to housing delivery.
It is designed to intervene in London’s land market “to maximise affordable housing delivery and accelerate the speed of building, rather than solely funding or supporting third parties”. The initiative is backed by £2bn in grant from government and low-interest loans at 0.1% interest.
A GLA spokesperson said: “The model draws on the way many new homes are built in Singapore which has seen strong government involvement in housing for decades, with the state responsible for building around 80 per cent of homes and owning the vast majority of land.
“This approach has enabled sustained, large-scale delivery of housing and integrated urban development supported by long-term public investment.”
A revised masterplan to regenerate the long-dormant Silvertown site was signed off by Newham council in December, to deliver 7,000 homes, 1,800 of which are for affordable tenures. The 60-acre site in east London is owed by GLA Land and Property.
The first phase of development is delivering 1,032 homes, with more than half of those affordable. As well as residential, the scheme will include, commercial and public space.
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