Greenwich Reach
Tom asks a question I can't answer, so I'm passing it onto you folks that know more about this kind of thing than me:
Do you know what is going on at Greenwich Reach, the developer's namefor the little peninsula at the mouth of Deptford Creek? From theriver there appear to be a number of earth movers on site after yearsof inaction.On top of this it would appear that the original owners of the landhave sold-up:"Disposal of Greenwich Reach, SE10. Completion has taken placeto Roamquest Limited, part of Galliard Homes, for £111.8 million. This eightacre cleared site is on the South bank of the Thames, overlooking Canary Wharf. The site currently has planning consent for 980 residential apartments and71,155 sq ft of commercial/retail space."from Derwent London press release 13th July.There was talk of building a new pier and even a cruise liner terminalat one stage but a google search throws up some fairly unremarkablearchitects drawings of generic docklands flats.
The Phantom replies:
I have absolutely no idea about this, but I suspect that if it was going to be anything more interesting than bog-standard 'luxury' flats they'd be shouting it to the rooftops. Here's hoping I'm wrong...
Do you know what is going on at Greenwich Reach, the developer's namefor the little peninsula at the mouth of Deptford Creek? From theriver there appear to be a number of earth movers on site after yearsof inaction.On top of this it would appear that the original owners of the landhave sold-up:"Disposal of Greenwich Reach, SE10. Completion has taken placeto Roamquest Limited, part of Galliard Homes, for £111.8 million. This eightacre cleared site is on the South bank of the Thames, overlooking Canary Wharf. The site currently has planning consent for 980 residential apartments and71,155 sq ft of commercial/retail space."from Derwent London press release 13th July.There was talk of building a new pier and even a cruise liner terminalat one stage but a google search throws up some fairly unremarkablearchitects drawings of generic docklands flats.
The Phantom replies:
I have absolutely no idea about this, but I suspect that if it was going to be anything more interesting than bog-standard 'luxury' flats they'd be shouting it to the rooftops. Here's hoping I'm wrong...
Labels: Ask The Phantom
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
13:54
14 Comments:
It shall be this:
http://www.derwentlondon.com/properties/developmentprogramme/?id=2689
It includes resturants, gallery, Waitrose, and will be a lot better than the current mess occupying the area, so hopefully not too many complaints about 'luxury flats'!
I believe a local resident's association asked for something like a museum or local history artefact to reflect what used to be on site. No idea where that got to.
Current work on the area is to decontaminate the land and improve the river defence.
I believe there are/were plans to have a historic dockyard/river museum there, which sounds quite interesting.
There's an aerial view of what it'll look like at http://tinyurl.com/25vve7 . I walk along there to Deptford every weekday so I particularly look forward to being able to stick to the river path almost the whole way to work.
Jon - the footbridge over to Millenium Quay is only a s106 agreement - i.e. a fair chance the people building Greenwich Reach won't bother to do it! Especially so as it will need to be a bridge that can part to let through the boats to Ravensborne Wharf.
That diagram is also suspiciously scaled! I heard the building next to the footbridge will be 15 - 20 stories high, which you don't get from the diagram ...
hmm, 980 residential units, 343 of them 'affordable'. Just the odd 637 luxury flats then...!
Let's hope they DO include a footbridge - I've often thought it's a prime position for one. I fear anonimong is right though - it will prove too expensive, particularly an opening one.
I'm sure it will be designed tastefully and elegantly. There is room for a phone shop, right?!
Do we know how much of a legally binding thing a section 106 agreement is? I had always assumed that it was obligatory - but you're suggesting it's not. It would be nice to hold them to ransome on it as frankly, that bridge would be a big asset - not just to the local community - but the developers' own plans...
Fromt he website of the Idea and Development Agency
"Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows a local planning authority (LPA) to enter into a legally-binding agreement or planning obligation, with a land developer over a related issue. The obligation is sometimes termed as a 'Section 106 agreement'."
So basically it's up to Greenwich (or is it Lewisham at that point?) Council to insist upon that lovely bridge. The Developer will have plenty of cash - it's up to the council to force them to use it.
Thanks for everyone's posts. I guess we will know more when the new owner posts their plans. S106 agreements are binding. They also cover the percentage of 'affordable' flats which from what I know is about par although some councils have insisted on more. I hadn't heard anything about Waitrose. I wonder if that would compete with or complement Drings, the Creaky Shed, the Trafalgar road fishmongers et al.
According a recent report Waitrose is the biggest threat to 'quality' independent shops. So I guess it wouldnt be good news for the shops on Royal Hill.
Hi - yes s106 agreements are binding in the terms of the Act, but developers routinely get out of them! I think it would be a fantastic idea to hold the developers, and Greenwich Council (for it it is in Greenwich, don't forget Greenwich borough extends all the way to Deptford Church Street!), to the agreement.
Waitrose have expressed an intention to put a shop in there. But the timescales for all this - at least 5 years - means anything could happen in the meantime.
Incidently, the jetty on the other side of the creek, besides the Millenium Quay development featured in an agreement between the developers of Millenium Quay and the council. The idea was that money was put aside by the developers for the council to spend on improving the jetty. Nothing has happened ...
Part of the deal between council and developers, which paved the way for the neighbouring development of flats across the creek from the Waitrose linked project involved the developers enabling the setting up of the Ahoy Sailing Centre (see www.ahoy.org.uk).
This project started off as what seemed to me to be an excellent attempt to get young people and people who would other wise be excluded from water activities to use the river. I haven't had a great deal to do with them although I had some limited contact about 2 years ago- so I don't know how things are going- but it seemed like a really sound initiative and I guess the whole thing was based on a S.106 agreement (provided the whole venture has not been stolen by middle class rogues and pirates who are definitely not excluded from water activities). The large jetty which is probably the one that 'anonimong' is referring to was set to be restored as a key resource for Ahoy and still seems to feature in the plans on their website.
Consultation on the AHOH jetty with resident of Millennium Quay started this week. Various proposals set out from moorings, restaurant and river boat service.
Oooh - interesting. Here's one 'consultation' that couls actually be a good thing for residents...
Hi - I just stumbled across this old thread but thought I'd leave some little known facts for posterity. "Greenwich Reach" is the name of the land on both sides of Deptford Creek. Millenium Quay is built on Greenwich Reach West and the new development is on Greenwich Reach East. You can see these names on old plans in West Greenwich Library, where you can also find the latest plans for the new development. The bridge between the two appears on the original Millenium Quay development plans and there is visible groundwork on the thames path within that development where the bridge is supposed to "land" on the western side. So, the S106 for a bridge on the new eastern development was actually put in place when MQ was consented to. Another little known fact - even among it's residents - is that Millenium Quay is in fact in Greenwich, not Deptford (as alluded to by anonimong above, and shown by the grey boundary here http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|se8%203ex). This is no doubt perpetuated as the MQ management company refer to it incorrectly as in Deptford, however this misunderstanding probably originated because the post office designated the creek as the boundary between SE8 & SE10, rather than using the borough boundary.
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