Beyond the Olympics – opportunities and developments in East London
As the Olympics gets under way with the opening ceremony in London tonight, you can check out the various venues that will be used during and after the Games with information from Jones Lang LaSalle’s legacy map. After the Olympic and Paralympic Games have finished, the Olympic Park and the various developments within it “should represent an exciting new visitor destination and community park unlike any other in the UK and the creation of homes, jobs and communities here will drive prosperity and growth in the city of London,” the firm says.
Up to 8,000 homes will be built around the Olympic Park in five new neighbourhoods by 2030, with residents starting to move into the first – Chobham Manor, in the north of the park, from 2015. This neighbourhood will be built on the site of the basketball arena, which is to be dismantled after the Games. The four other neighbourhoods are: East Wick in the north-west of the Park, next to Hackney Wick; Sweetwater near the Old Ford area, in the south-west of the Park; Marshgate Wharf between Stratford City and the stadium, to the south-east of the stadium; and Pudding Mill in and around Pudding Mill Lane station. The five new communities will include play areas, schools and nurseries, community spaces, health centres and retail premises, with family homes making up 70% of the available housing.
The athletes’ village, which was bought by Qatari Diar/Delancy last year, will be known as East Village and will provide 2,818 new homes, supported by new parks and open space, transport links and facilities including the Chobham Academy school. The media and broadcast centre will be turned into a commercial business campus with 95,000 sq ft of office space and 570,000 sq ft of studio space, “all adaptable for a variety of commercial uses,” JLL says.
Beyond the Olympic Park itself, JLL has also highlighted the wider developments and opportunities that are either under way or “on the starting blocks” in East London. The total Stratford City site will create 4,500 homes, 5m sq ft of offices and 1.9m sq ft of retail property incorporating the Olympic Village and the international rail station. The master plan for The International Quarter (TIQ) in Stratford proposes 4m sq ft of new office space, 275,500 sq ft of hotels, 350 new homes and three acres of open amenity space, to form a new metropolitan business district less than 10 minutes from Central London. This 50-50 joint venture between Lend Lease and London and Continental Railways is set to begin construction in spring 2013 when the Olympic Delivery Authority will hand back the site.
The Greenwich Peninsula business district is already being created, with 400,000 sq ft of Grade A office space completed and plans for another 3m sq ft of retail space and offices. JLL notes that the Greater London Authority is seeking a development partner to transform the Royal Albert Dock into a mixed-use destination with commercial, leisure and tourist attractions, while a variety of housing developments are set to transform the Canning Town area. Meanwhile, Chelsfield is planning a new district – The Silvertown – on the 50-acre Silvertown Quays Quays site to provide 350,000 sq ft of commercial property and retail space as well as 415,000 sq ft of homes.
