EP demands threaten to delay 3500 London homes

Plans for 3500 homes in London could be delayed because English Partnerships is placing too many demands on developers.

In June, the regeneration agency named a shortlist of five consortia to work up bids for three of its 12 London sites (HT 18 June, page 9).

But some bidders say EP’s stringent requirements on density and modern methods of construction may make the developments financially undeliverable.

However, EP says the schemes are designed to push the boundaries and are on course.

The projects include towers more than 20 storeys high at two sites, Newington Butts in Southwark, south London, and East India Dock road in Tower Hamlets, east London.

A source from one of the consortia said: “A lot of people are spending a lot of time trying to resolve issues around things like density of development that simply can’t be resolved.

“You’ve got very expensive people’s time spent dealing with this when they should be working out how it is going to be financed.

“On present progress, [the plan] will struggle to hit its March deadline [for signing contracts with developers].”

A number of the consortia plan to submit a proposal that doesn’t meet the criteria, together with a compliant bid, to indicate what could be done without EP’s strict conditions.

The source said: “They’ll only get real innovation if they relax the rules a bit.”

EP expects more than half the homes to be for key workers. And bidders are being asked to meet council targets on providing social rented accommodation: 35% in Southwark and 35% in Tower Hamlets. That leaves as little as 15-20% of the homes for private sale, for a scheme without grant funding.

John Lewis, director of the strategic joint ventures division at EP, said: “This is supposed to challenge the traditional approach to development.”