Tower Hamlets redevelopment granted approval after nine-year wait
Planning permission for a huge redevelopment on the site of the former Westferry Printworks in Tower Hamlets were granted on Wednesday, nine years after proposals were first submitted.
The permission being granted comes with conditions, chief among them being that £651.826 will be contributed towards construction phase employment skills training and £1,033,722 towards carbon emission offsetting.
The offsetting amount is based on a rate of £95 per tonne over a 30-year period and a further condition is that there must be a BREEAM excellent rating for all commercial units exceeding 500sqm in floor area.
With these measures, the energy strategy and sustainability measures incorporated into the development are considered broadly compliant with the London and Tower Hamlets local plans.
Northern & Shell, the developer for the project, says: “Building upon Northern & Shell’s roots within the print publications industry, Westferry Printworks will create hundreds of new jobs.
“In addition, it will be creating acres of high-quality, publicly accessible and semi-private open space on a previously disused, brownfield industrial site.
“Our vision is to transform the site to create a sustainable, safe, mixed use, waterfront neighbourhood.”
It will see 1,358 homes created, a secondary school for 1,200 pupils, 6164sqm of commercial space.
It is the third set of proposals submitted for the site since 2015 but work will start later this year and take seven years to complete across four phases.