City Hall boost for Royal Docks regeneration

Editor, NLQ and New London Weekly

City Hall boost for Royal Docks regeneration

Mayor Sadiq Khan’s decision to move City Hall to the Crystal Building in the Royal Docks is a ‘real vote of confidence for everything we are trying to achieve’.

So said Dan Bridge, Royal Docks Programme director of the GLA at the first ever virtual ‘On Location’ conference held by the NLA about the area this week.

Bridge said that the move to make it the home of London government had increased the focus on the major schemes going on in the area, including the Terry Farrell-designed project for Chinese developer ABP comprising some 3.5 million sq ft of commercial space, a 1,000 seat ‘meanwhile’ theatre, Albert Island, and Lendlease’s major work at Silvertown Quays, including the reworking of Millennium Mills, all given further impetus by the area’s status as London’s only Enterprise Zone. ‘Having the focus and the interest of the Mayor of London and all of the London Assembly I everything we do will be challenging’, said Bridge in a Q&A session. ‘But it will be really good to raise the profile of the project and give that level of political confidence to sift through to our development partners’.

Ballymore is another key player in the area, with its Royal Wharf scheme having been around 10 years in the making and which comprises over 3000 homes and 10,000 residents. This is a ‘rich community’ in the sense of its array of supporting infrastructure, said Roger Black in a video presentation, and constitutes a new piece of east London, masterplanned by Glen Howells, which is ‘finding its place in London’s diaspora of new communities’. Project director Nicola Zech-Behrens added that it was a benchmark for the developer against which its other projects will be measured and learned from. It is adding a further 762 units next year and is delivering around 7000 units over the next couple of years.

Infrastructure is also key to the Royal Docks development, London City Airport’s director of infrastructure and planning Tim Halley talking through its expansion plans, including a new terminal, despite the tough time aviation is having currently. And Transport for London’s strategy manager Rajesh Gami added that making the Royal Docks easier to get to was a key consideration, with projects like a new Elizabeth Line station at Custom House on the way, as well as new DLR trains and station upgrades, the Silvertown Tunnel and the Royal Wharf Pier, plus a brief to include active travel.

A second session on the area focused on culture, with the Royal Docks’ head of cultural programme and partnerships Kate Anderson running through its approach to cultural placemaking and creating a ‘cultural ecosystem’, with Millennium Mills the backdrop to a ‘Joining the Docks’ programme of events and planned innovation festival next Summer. Anderson said it was also working hard to position the Royal Docks as a world leader in water cultural activities. Lendlease development director for Silvertown Edward Mayes said Millennium Mills could be an iconic centrepiece for its development but that one of its main aims was to allow people engagement with an inactive waterscape to improve the place’s public realm, especially since its history showed that the docks were once a private space. Other speakers included Clive Lyttle of the arts organisation Certain Blacks, showing the range of work it gets involved with, ‘supporting artists to make the best work that they can’, including a live art show outside the Crystal – the mayor’s new home.

Watch Royal Docks Virtual 'On Location' - Enterprise Zone and Global Gateway
Watch Royal Docks Virtual 'On Location' - A New Place for People

David Taylor

Editor, NLQ and New London Weekly

City Hall boost for Royal Docks regeneration

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