“London is open for investment from each and every one of you,” cheers Shantanu Rajawat, leader of Hounslow Council at the opening reception on the London stand at MIPIM (Le Marché international des professionnels de l’immobilier), the international property conference held in Cannes each March for the past 36 years.
“Are. You. Ready???” he shouts.
It’s a valiant attempt to rally the assembled crowd of architects, planners and local government wonks, but it is not a naturally whoop-and-holler group and Cllr Rajawat is met with a slightly damp response, one which everyone in the beachfront tent hopes won’t be echoed by the money men and women they are there to woo.
After all, there’s stiff competition, including from other UK cities, with Manchester managing to muster not only its actual mayor, Andy Burnham, but also the actor-turned-property developer, Steve Coogan, who is regenerating his hometown of Middleton in Rochdale.
H. THOUROUDE / IMAGE&CO
Throughout the week there is a lot of talk of the headwinds facing London builders, among them the situation in the Middle East threatening further inflation, perceptions of high crime and lawlessness, low buyer demand due to affordability constraints, a disconnect from central government, and a sense from some international investors who are otherwise keen to put money into the capital that it is overpriced.
But it is planning that most commonly gets cited as the enemy of building in London, with strict safety rules (introduced for very good reason in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire) and design codes blamed for making development unviable.
There may soon be no excuse, if we take deputy mayor for planning and regeneration Jules Pipe at his word. He promises to, if not rip up the rule book, at least make it more flexible.
“By the end of this year, no one in London can claim planning is a barrier to growth,” he declares.
Cautious optimism is the order of the day, arguably an improvement on both the near-hysteria of the rampant “glory” years, or the gloom of the recent post-Covid, post-Brexit doldrums.
“2026 is going to be a turnaround year for housing in London,” Tom Copley, deputy mayor for housing and residential development tells Homes & Property.
“The alignment we’ve got now between mayor and government is starting to bear fruit with a package of emergency measures (including planning reform and new funding).”
And while the big deals may no longer be signed off at MIPIM itself, it is still one of the best places to sniff out the capital’s next big regeneration zones to watch.
Here are five areas set to transform over the next decade or so.
Sitting at the northernmost tip of London, the prospective Crews Hill development and adjacent Chase Park is on the shortlist for the Government’s New Towns task force.
Currently an 884-hectare swathe of Green Belt land comprising mainly golf courses and garden centres, if confirmed, this will bring 21,000 new homes to the area, supported by the transfer of the Great Northern line trains to TfL to enable a more frequent service.
“This is a really good example of an outer London area that could become a hub, with transport feeding into it,” says Copley.
Thamesmead, which has already undergone significant redevelopment and gained an Elizabeth line station at nearby Abbey Wood, is another London area up for new town designation, which would come alongside a DLR extension.
Hounslow council launched a £7.5 billion, 15-year regeneration programme set to bring 14,000 homes and 25,000 jobs to the west London borough.
Dubbed the Golden Mile, the scheme will transform a section of the Great West Road, best known for a series of ex-industrial art deco landmark buildings on the way out to Heathrow Airport, into a “creative-tech innovation district”, the council says.
Plans for the first phase, turning the former GSK headquarters into a new neighbourhood with 2,300 homes and 320,000sq ft of commercial and community space, have been approved.
The University of West London is also working with the council and Hadley Property Group to create a skills and innovation hub for the area, which is blessed with an impressive array of transport connections, including the A4/M4 corridor, the Elizabeth line, Heathrow Airport and a proposed new West London Orbital Overground service.
Another stop on that line will be Brent Cross, where work on eight buildings and 40 acres of playing fields starts this year.
Also in Hounslow, 373 new homes are set to be added to the Brentford Project, an 11.8-acre site connecting the River Brent and Brentford’s high street after a deal was agreed between developer Ballymore and investor Penta.
How Thameside West might look when built
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Inner London’s longest stretch of undeveloped waterfront will be transformed into a new £2.5 billion docklands neighbourhood.
Half of the 47-acre site will be green space alongside significant commercial and leisure offerings, too, and a kilometre of “active waterfront”.
UAE-based developer Arada, which now owns Regal Homes, bought 80 per cent of the site and plans to work with TfL to deliver a new DLR station joining the Silvertown Tunnel, City Airport, the Custom House Elizabeth line link and the cable car as local transport options.
Barking Riverside, Barking & Dagenham
Aerial Essex
Hardly new — remember Barcelona on Thames? — but now under the stewardship of a new managing director, Leigh Johnson, Barking Riverside sits on 2km of river front on an area larger than Hyde Park, formerly Barking Power Station.
Its new transport links in the form of an Overground station and Thames Clipper pier are already in place and about 6,000 residents have already moved in — close to half of them under the age of 15.
The next piece of the puzzle of the joint venture between the Mayor of London and L&Q is creating the social infrastructure that will give the development a sense of place as you step off the boat or the train, attracting visitors as well as catering to residents, says Johnson.
Planning was approved this week to bring the number of homes up to 20,000, of which over 4,000 will be affordable, alongside two more schools, parks, commercial space and sorely needed health infrastructure. It is a “moment of real transition for Barking Riverside,” says Johnson.
The east London borough stretching from the City of London to the Olympic Park and Canary Wharf has packaged together dozens of sites within its boundaries, across which it plans to deliver 52,000 homes.
The biggest scheme is South Poplar and Billingsgate to the north of Canary Wharf where up to 10,000 Zone 2 homes are planned.
Elsewhere, Leaside forms part of the Poplar Riverside Opportunity Area where estate regeneration, new bridges and infrastructure will transform the area.
Tower Hamlets also plans to add 3,300 homes across more than 40 council-owned sites and 1,100 council homes over the next six years.
The Barts Life Sciences cluster in Whitechapel has secured £800 million funding and is expected to create more than 5,000 jobs alongside thousands of new homes.