Thames Gateway UDC plans new Docklands bonanza

A string of prime waterfront sites in London’s Docklands should be released for residential development, according to a strategy drawn up for the London Thames Gateway urban development corporation.

The study, carried out by consultant URS for the UDC, recommends that the embargo on redeveloping wharves in the area should be relaxed.

It says that Manhattan and Sunshine wharves, both of which are located to the south of the Royal Victoria Dock, should be released for residential development.

It also recommends that the Mayer’s Parry and Prior’s facilities to the south of the Olympic site on the River Lea should be removed from the list of wharves that are protected from development.

It says the Peruvian Wharf site, which PruPIM subsidiary Capital and Provident is planning to redevelop, should either be retained as a working wharf or released for redevelopment.

Sunny Crouch, Capital and Provident managing director, welcomed the report and said: “This has been identified as an area for regeneration and it makes enormous sense.”

Overall, the study says, its recommendations would result in the release of 39.5 ha of land for development in the area.

The report adds that the creation of a ribbon of residential-led development south of the royal dock would capitalise on the Thames Barrier Park and the extension to the Docklands Light Railway.

It says the area’s working wharves should be rationalised at a single site at the confluence of the Thames and the Lea, which would also provide space for businesses displaced by the redevelopment of the other sites.

Half of site to be retained is owned by a joint venture between Quintain and the London Development Agency, while the other half is a factory.