Mace in frame for Calatrava's £1bn Greenwich scheme

Mace could be in line to build Hong Kong developer Knight Dragon’s £1bn mixed-use scheme designed by Spanish star architect Santiago Calatrava.

The Peninsula Place scheme - which comprises three towers, a hotel, office space and a 500ft glass galleria built above North Greenwich tube station next to the O2 Arena - was unveiled yesterday.

Speaking to Building at the launch, Knight Dragon chief executive Richard Margee said the developer was aiming to start work by early next year, with completion earmarked for 2021.

Asked about procurement for a contractor, Margee said Mace would be approached after impressing the client on the 464-home first phase of its SOM-designed Upper Riverside residential scheme elsewhere on the peninsula.

Commenting on Peninsula Place, Margee said: “It’s a big job. Probably very few people could take that on by itself […] Mace would be certainly someone we’d speak to.”

It is understood Knight Dragon and Mace are in advanced negotiations about the contractor taking on the second phase of Upper Riverside, comprising 650 homes and the final three of five towers. Asked about Upper Riverside, Margee said Mace was doing “a fantastic job” on the first phase.

Knight Dragon is taking a similar approach to developer Argent at King’s Cross by working repeatedly with a select group of contractors across the entire £8.4bn 150-acre development. Other contractors that have so far worked on Greenwich Peninsula include Skanska, Kier and Wates.

Around 1 million sq ft of development at Greenwich Peninsula has now been completed. By the end of 2018 the developer expects 2,500 homes including 950 affordable units to be finished.

Meanwhile, Mace’s head of construction Gareth Lewis told Building he was looking at potentially moving some of the contractor’s commercial workforce into the firm’s busier sectors on the back of a quieter offices sector following the EU Referendum.

Mace could move people into infrastructure and data centre or technology work, but Lewis said it was unlikely he would devote more people to the contractor’s residential arm as he does not want residential to grow beyond 25% of Mace’s business.