London’s ugliest hotel to be replaced with new housing
What could well be the ugliest hotel in London is set to be replaced with 140 new homes in Silvertown.
This is hardly breaking news with demolition approved in 2022, and came about after researching changes along the Woolwich Arsenal branch of the DLR for a separate post.
Fairview Homes are behind the plan to replace an Ibis hotel located between London City Airport and Pontoon Dock DLR stations.
The site sits beside the recently completed Pontoon Reach development which includes 295 homes.
The whole area was once a hive of industry with docks and the river serviced by numerous railway lines and sidings as seen below, with the hotel site outlined in red.
It’s far from the only major development coming in the area. To the south is an area branded as the “Thames Road Quarter”.
This will be another major development akin to Royal Wharf’s further to the west.
The site is set for “1650 new homes, commercial and retail uses, a new primary school, river front public park as well as smaller pubic square opposite of the former St Mark’s Church.”
A hybrid application for that site was submitted in 2021 and as yet undetermined.
In addition, Silvertown is finally seeing movement on 6,500+ homes at Silvertown Quays around Millennium Mills with ground work ongoing for the first plot set to rise soon.
A new wider masterplan has recently been revealed.
Numerous changes forthcoming to the area are one key reason that DLR passenger numbers are still expected to rise long term even with the Elizabeth line at Woolwich. Indeed, even after opening the DLR is around 75 per cent of pre-pandemic passenger numbers.
With an ever growing housing crisis in London this will be good news. Homes near stations DLR and public transport always prove to be popular. I wish TFL would build on land next to Woolwich Arsenal DLR Station. TFL could even sell the site for social housing or private rented accommodation at Local Authority housing allowance rents.
Yes, we need more housing, there has always been a shortage, it’s not a new issue or necessarily increasing, but we need a good proportion of affordable housing too, which many of the riverside developments are far from being. There’s a reason why developers are keen to build big, higher and wider, along riverside areas, and it’s not to solve the housing crisis. What concerns me is that there is no obvious overall London-wide plan for transport and housing link-ups, along with new leisure facilities, public buildings and especially new green areas for fresh air and outdoor exercise. Also, a link to green transport options for walking and cycling in safety. The Royal Parks such as Greenwich have a finite capacity and were designed to cope with a much smaller footfall, damage is becoming more and more apparent and tricky to contain. Planners MUST remember the mental health of all Londoners and allow for extra outside space to balance the enormous scale of new residents here, many of whom are new to London and attracted by these new blocks, drawing in from other areas of the UK, not always solving the problems of those already here but in need of decent housing.