Industrial revolution
It’s bigger than Hyde Park, less than a mile from Westminster and has room for 16,000 new homes. The £10 billion Nine Elms regeneration project is one of the last central London development opportunities. Ravi Govindia takes us on a visual tour
Nine Elms is the last of central London’s industrial districts - an officially designated ‘opportunity area’ with potential for up to 16,000 new homes over the next 20 years.
Over the past year planning consent has been granted for several landmark sites there as private investors begin to unlock the area’s potential as a residential and business quarter. These include REO/Treasury Holding’s Battersea Power Station scheme (pictured) and the US government’s plan for a new embassy complex. Work is already underway on St James Group’s Riverlight development, which alone will create 752 homes on a former industrial estate.
In the first half of 2011 planning applications have been submitted for a further three schemes - Marco Polo House (submitted by Marcus Cooper Group), Embassy Gardens (Ballymore) and Parkside (Royal Mail Group). Between them these projects could deliver as many as 4,500 new homes. Other major landowners are developing investment proposals for Nine Elms, including the New Covent Garden Market Authority, Klum and Sainsbury’s.
A lack of transport infrastructure is the reason behind this district’s delayed emergence from its industrial roots. However, the enormous scale of new investment now pouring in has offered a solution to this ‘chicken or egg’ challenge. A tariff on new development across the opportunity area is being used to fund a two-station extension of the London Underground’s Northern Line. The area’s major landowners support the funding model and are applying the tariff to their planning applications.
As with all regeneration projects, the level of funding channelled into infrastructure improvements and other community assets such as affordable housing is a delicate balancing act. Flexibility is essential, as is a clear focus of the area’s most pressing needs.
The new tube link will deliver wider benefits. With a funding model in place, and the planning process underway, the pace of development across Nine Elms is accelerating. As London struggles to return to growth, the eye- watering sums of new investment pouring into this district is just the shot in the arm our city’s economy needs.
As more plans come forward and projects gets underway the area’s developers will be seeking social landlords partners to work with.
Ravi Govindia is leader of Wandsworth Council
