Joint venture agrees new tenure plan for £3.5bn Silvertown Quays

The Greater London Authority, Lendlease and Starwood Capital are to significantly increase the number of affordable homes at the £3.5bn Silvertown Quays regeneration. The GLA and the Silvertown Partnership have signed a new master development agreement, laying out a number of new terms, including raising the affordable housing to 50% of residential space. This could see a boost to 3,000 affordable homes at the 6,100-home east London regeneration, with at least half of these delivered before the bulk of private housing. This is a big increase on prior commitments from the GLA and previous partners. In 2014, outline plans initially sought to deliver just 15-20% of the 2,500 homes as affordable. The scheme was brought forward under the former owners of the Silvertown Partnership – Stuart Lipton’s Chelsfield Properties, First Base and Macquarie Capital. In 2016, this was revised to 35%, offering 1,050 affordable homes. Lendlease and Starwood bought out the developers in the Silvertown Partnership in 2018. Three years later, despite securing consent for detailed plans for the first 1,000 homes, the partners are going back to the drawing board. The GLA has updated the development agreement, giving two reasons for the change. The first, responding to the requirement for 50% affordable housing in development on GLA land, as per the new London Plan. The revision is also a response to market demand following delays during the pandemic, the GLA said. The scheme was rephased to delay the launch of open-market housing. The masterplan will subsequently be revised to provide a greater diversity of tenures, including new allocations for build-to-rent and light industrial space. To further diversify, the new Silvertown Quays masterplan will include more than double the amount of commercial space. New plans will have a minimum requirement of 1.8m sq ft of non-residential space, up from 840,000 sq ft. The GLA has revised the rates payable for the headleases, taking into account the expected reduction in revenue, and also capped the developer’s profit at 13% as opposed to the previous variable rate which capped profit at 22%. The pair will lodge fresh plans to reflect the shift, which are to include redesign of planning approved assets “to accommodate post Covid-19 demands”. To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@eg.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @EGPropertyNews Image courtesy of the Silvertown Partnership