New Residentials Planned for Leamouth

The development of area around the Lea River in east London is set to continue apace with developer Ballymore and their regular architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill having applied for planning permission to develop the Leamouth Peninsula into a massive new housing and cultural development that is their largest project yet.

The brown-field site on a former factory at Orchard Place, E14, is literally just over the road from New Providence Wharf, Blackwall Yard and Eleckton, there are is an ambitious series of 14 largely residential blocks planned ranging from just under 30 metres to 80 metres lining the outsides of the oval shaped peninsula. The developer aims to provide 4,000 new homes on the scheme plus 25,000 square metres of exhibition space and the usual mix of retail and restaurants at ground level to try and get some local life into the project.

The first three of the towers they have applied for detailed planning consent for are residential buildings B, C and D that will be 74.6m, 80.35m and 77.475 m AGL and 24, 26 and 25 floors respectively. The curious might want to know that the site is 5.25m above sea level.

This high density development fits in perfectly with the aspirations of the Mayor of London that there can be tens of thousands of new houses around the ‘Thames Gateway’, a large area roughly following the River Thames east of Canary Wharf.

As well as the range of towers and lower rise blocks envisaged they also hope to secure planning permission for a new crossing designed by award winning bridge designers Wilkinson Eyre which will span from the north east corner of the site over the River Lea and join the area up with Canning Tower DLR station.

The sheer size of the scheme shows the ever growing confidence of Ballymore in increasingly large residential projects and their belief that this area to the immediate east of the Isle of Dogs has enormous pull for those seeking to live near what is one of the fastest growing commercial areas of London.