GPRL, the joint venture between Knight Dragon and Quintain that is delivering the 10,000-home, mixed-use development of Greenwich Peninsula, has celebrated its first anniversary by securing a resolution to grant planning permission for a new 1,683-home masterplan for the riverside Peninsula Quays district.
The determination, which is subject to a 14 day period of referral to the Mayor, is the third major positive planning decision secured by GPRL in a fortnight: Royal Borough of Greenwich last month issued a resolution to grant a Deed of Variation to the original Section 106 to allow the first 11 plots, comprising 2,870 homes, to be brought forward for development; and permission has also been granted for a four-storey marketing hub to be located on Peninsula Square facing The O2.
Over the last year, the tranche of London to the East of the City has attracted significant attention in terms of emerging residential locations. Greenwich Peninsula, which will deliver 14 million ft² (approx. 1,3 million m²) of mixed-use development along 1.6 miles of riverfront, sits in the heart of this zone between the proposed Royal Docks development and Canary Wharf, and benefits from The O2 which attracts 8 million visitors to the site every year. Peninsula Quays is located to the north of the overall site.
To the south of the development in the Peninsula Riverside district, the new joint venture has already secured detailed consent for 506 homes on which construction will start next month.
Peninsula Quays Masterplan
The new Peninsula Quays masterplan, which was designed by Swanke Hayden Connell Architects, provides for towers of up to 32 storeys offering residents unrivalled views of Canary Wharf on the adjacent riverbank. The 1,683-apartment district will be connected to Peninsula Square and The O2 through landscaped gardens, designed by Gillespie Landscape Architects, and benefit from two storeys of underground parking, two hotels and almost 90,000 ft² (approx. 8,361 m²) of restaurants and shops.
Deed of Variation
At the end of last month, Royal Borough of Greenwich resolved to vary the existing Section 106 Agreement in relation to 11 of the 66 remaining plots to be delivered on the Peninsula. This variation redistributed the tenure of affordable housing to enable GPRL to provide approximately 2,870 homes in a viable manner.
Central Marketing Hub
Underpinning these major strides forward, GPRL was this month also granted planning permission for a new marketing hub located on Peninsula Square, facing The O2 and next to North Greenwich Underground station. The hub has been designed by Marks Barfield Architects and will provide a natural path through the marketing suite on the journey from the tube station toward the Emirates Cable Car and Central Park, as well as attracting event-goers.
Peninsula Riverside
In February, detailed planning permission was secured for 506 homes on three plots, now covered by the Deed of Variation, at Peninsula Riverside in the south, and GPRL’s contractors are scheduled to start construction later this summer. With piling already underway in this district and a student accommodation building now close to completion, by the winter of 2015 Peninsula Riverside is expected to be home to approximately 2,000 Londoners.
Source: Quintain
