Sewer sinks £250m Fulham plans

Plans for the £250m Fulham Riverside West development have been sunk by Thames Water as the utility giant edges towards a deal to buy a key site for its £4bn super-sewer project. Thames Water is close to finalising a deal for the industrial estate at 17-31 and 5 Carnwath Road, SW6, with long leaseholder CBRE Global Investors and freeholder Hammersmith & Fulham council. It is understood to have agreed to pay around £50m for the site on which CBREGI had planned to develop the residential-led project. A stand-off between the parties began when Thames Water earmarked the land as a chief construction site for the 22-mile Tideway Tunnel seven years ago. Hammersmith & Fulham – which has long opposed the sewer project – resolved to grant consent for a £250m residential-led development of the estate together with neighbouring sites at Whiffin Wharf and Hurlingham Wharf, totalling 4.5 acres, in January 2013. The plans, submitted by CBREGI and neighbouring landowner Comer Homes, included 475 homes and 30,000 sq ft of shops and offices. The resolution to grant consent came despite a safeguarding direction for the site issued by the department for Communities and Local Government in 2012, which prevented the council from authorising development without its approval. A legal battle threatened to ensue before Thames Water struck a deal with Comer Homes to acquire Whiffin Wharf and Hurlingham Wharf last year. The super-sewer project was given a development consent order last month to be built using 24 sites across London – including Fulham Riverside. The Carnwath Road estate is the last part of the scheme that Thames Water does not yet own. A spokesman for the council said it would continue to take legal advice on next steps. Montagu Evans and BNP Paribas Real Estate advised CBREGI.   annabel.dixon@estatesgazette.com