Approval granted for £124m Barking Riverside funding package
Barking Riverside Limited has had a £124 million funding package approved by Homes England, to construct more homes and deliver new infrastructure to the riverside in east London.
The riverside is a 443-acre brownfield site, formerly occupied by Barking Power Station, and is one of Europe’s largest placemaking projects.
Upon completion, the new mixed-use development will provide affordable family homes, enhanced green spaces, seven new schools and better access to the River Thames, as well as a significant amount of community space.
The funding agreed is a combination of loan and grant funding and will help the master developer Barking Riverside, in itself a partnership between L&Q and the Mayor of London, to prepare the land including flood defence work and the construction of an energy centre and parks.
“Barking Riverside is an exemplary new town that is transforming east London with state-of-the-art new homes, community facilities, transport links and green spaces,” says Tom Copley, the deputy mayor of London for housing and residential development.
“I’m delighted that £124 million has been secured to help unlock 20,000 new, high-quality homes. This will help support the mayor’s plans to boost homebuilding across London and build a fairer, more prosperous city for everyone.”
This will help make it possible to build another 16,500 homes on the site, to complement the 3,500 already built or under construction by housing association, L&Q, and housebuilder, Bellway.
This could see up to 20,000 new homes in total delivered at Barking Riverside, creating a community of up to 50,000 people.
The site’s current planning consent for 10,800 homes was originally approved by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in 2008, however it has since been identified that the site could house up to 20,000 homes.
Matthew Carpen, managing director of Barking Riverside, says: “Barking Riverside has delivered thousands of vitally needed new homes for Londoners, on brownfield land that has already seen a significant investment in infrastructure. However, the support from Homes England will enable this project to move into a new era – increasing the level of ambition and unlocking housing at the scale needed to truly make an impact.
“We are excited to make our new masterplan a reality, which would not be possible without a number of important partnerships. Fundamentally, this funding from Homes England ensures that Barking Riverside can remain delivery-focussed and resilient despite a challenging market.”
Future homes built at Barking Riverside will be powered by a low carbon district heating network, which means that heat and hot water is generated locally and brought to homes through an underground network of insulated pipes, an environmentally friendly alternative to gas boilers.
Elsewhere, Barking was recently featured in the Parks For London report which celebrates the work that London boroughs do to maintain and develop the city’s parks and green spaces.