Greenwich towers rise as 476-home development proceeds
Two towers forming part of a development on Greenwich peninsula have now nearly reached full height.
The plot is on developer Knight Dragon’s masterplan for more than 17,487 homes though this site is being developed by L&Q.
A total of 476 homes are being constructed across plots 18.02 and 18.03 with the tallest block topping out at 30-storeys.
The above shot shows a sperate development undertaken by Knight Dragon on the left, with towers to the rear on the right.
Both blocks of the taller scheme sits amongst mid-rise elements and directly next to St Mary Magdalene school which was constructed a few years ago.
Cladding is starting to be applied and zooming in above to the lower floors just about shows it now attached.
You can also make out school buildings to the right.
The Pilot Inn is visible in the foreground alongside some of the last remaining parts of the peninsula comprising a terraced row of houses before comprehensive change arrived in time for the millennium when the Dome – now o2 – arrived and mass land reclamation was undertaken.
Cable car
As ever the cable car gives an excellent view of this changing part of London.
The riverside plot visible above has seen basement level excavated has seen planning permission. Work was underway earlier this year but no action seen now for some months.
In common with most plots on the peninsula be it Knight Dragon, Greenwich Millennium Village or others, progress has been extremely slow on towers nearby.
An adjacent plot still sits empty as seen below.
Public spends, private interests gain
Much public money was spent cleaning land to be usable for residential usage – and then private developers proceeded to build little.
Between 1997 and 2004 government agency English Partnerships spent £225 million on getting the area ready for development. Housing totals built since have been far below expected levels.
This is not new. Back in 2008 a National Audit Office report noted:
“The delivery of new housing has, however, fallen behind schedule. It will be difficult for the housing programme to recover the lost ground to meet original targets because the rate of building required to do so is very demanding.
“As a consequence of these delays, the taxpayer’s likely return from the redevelopment has fallen significantly. The structure of the deal means that the delays have affected the taxpayer more than the private sector”.
Meanwhile the “temporary” car park nearby gained another ten years of use last month.
If you’re wondering whether the new towers will see any resulting investment into improving local streets and improving access on foot to nearby east Greenwich and shops in Charlton you probably already know the answer.
No. Nothing is planned anytime soon.
Vehicle domination of the area continues – and that’s particularly true to head anywhere that isn’t in the north of the peninsula.
Reaching railway stations, bus routes, shops, doctors, dentists, schools and much else in east Greenwich and Charlton are not considered, time and again.
