One Nine Elms scheme had been mothballed last year because of funding problems for Chinese developer

The first phase of Multiplex’s delayed £1bn One Nine Elms project in London has now reached practical completion.

Initially expected to finish in the first half of this year, the Battersea job ground to a halt last year, with Multiplex downing tools over a payment dispute with client Guangzhou-based client R&F Properties.

Last summer, the Hong Kong-listed developer announced a financing package for One Nine Elms, worth more than £770m, which it said would provide the funding necessary to complete the build.

One Nine Elms 2022

Source: R&F

The shells and cores of the two towers had been built by the time the payment dispute blew up

The development, designed by KPF, is comprised of two residential towers.

The 57-storey City Tower features 334 for-sale residential units, while the 42-storey River Tower will host the 203-room Park Hyatt hotel and 103 Park Hyatt-branded luxury apartments.

Phase 2 of the scheme, which is for the Park Hyatt Hotel, is expected to complete in the first quarter of next year with the hotel due to be taking its first guests next summer.

The project also includes 57 affordable housing units, which will be sold to Thames Valley Housing.

R&F bought the job from Dalian Wanda five years ago after that developer, also China-based, had made Multiplex the third contractor appointed to the project.

It was originally due to be built by a pairing of Interserve and China State Construction Engineering Corporation, appointed in 2015, but the team was replaced by Balfour Beatty the following summer only for the contractor to walk away that autumn after failing to agree terms. Multiplex was appointed at the start of 2017.