Homes England Loan boost to Silvertown redevelopment.

Homes England has announced that it will provide £233m of infrastructure loan funding to help develop a £3.5bn neighbourhood at Silvertown in east London.

The loan will be provided to The Silvertown Partnership (TSP), a joint venture between developer Lendlease and investor Starwood Capital.

The venture plans to create 6,000 homes and 1.8m sq ft of workspace.

This is in addition to cultural and community event space, plus a town centre for the Royal Docks.

Funding

The Homes England funding is being made available to provide help with the huge upfront infrastructure costs involved in the site.

Peter Freeman, chair of Homes England, said in a statement: "Our commitment to the Silvertown project is another example of how we can work with the private sector to bring forward large, complex sites and help to transform them into the places of the future.

"This infrastructure funding will enable The Silvertown Partnership to create new communities in the heart of East London and bring swathes of derelict brownfield land back to life."

Affordable Homes

TSP has committed that 50 per cent of homes within the neighbourhood will be affordable. The homes, which include London Affordable Rent and shared ownership, will form part of a new masterplan.

Housing Minister Stuart Andrew said in a statement: "This major investment will revive London’s historic docklands to deliver vital new homes, create jobs and boost the local economy with new state-of-the-art facilities.

"Our brownfield first approach is key to our levelling up mission – regenerating disused land in our towns and cities into places people are proud to call home."

Repairs

Issues include the need to repair the dock wall, tackling contaminated land and restoring the historic Millennium Mills building. This is in addition to the construction of a new pedestrian and cycle bridge linking the site with Custom House to the north and its new Elizabeth line station.

The Silvertown site has been derelict for around 40 years. Initially, it was the responsibility of the London Docklands Development Corporation, which brought forward Canary Wharf. However, it was handed over to the Greater London Authority (GLA) when the corporation was wound up in 1998.

Ed Mayes, project director at Lendlease, says Silvertown is a good fit with the company’s “global specialism in large-scale urban regeneration schemes”.

He adds: “Over the years, we have proved ourselves in delivering schemes to achieve great commercial results, but also great placemaking. And we have a bit of a history of making schemes happen that others couldn’t.”

The site at London's historic docklands is located in London’s only Enterprise Zone and has been derelict for 40 years.

Financing

Homes England will provide loan financing to help tackle high upfront infrastructure costs.

In particular, this includes investment to support the delivery of a new pedestrian and cycle bridge across Royal Victoria Dock, linking the site to Custom House Crossrail.

This is in addition to the restoration of the Millennium Mills and the repair of the dock walls, all previously a barrier to development of the scheme.

Alongside this, new public realm will provide local people with access to the water at the Royal Docks via new bridges, wider canal walkways and jetties.

 Peter Freeman, chair of Homes England, said:

“Our commitment to the Silvertown project is another example of how we can work with the private sector to bring forward large, complex sites and help to transform them into the places of the future.

"This infrastructure funding will enable The Silvertown Partnership to create new communities in the heart of East London and bring swathes of derelict brownfield land back to life."