Greenwich Millennium Village granted consent for 1,746 homes

The proposed plans include new homes, a crèche, a community building, shops, restaurants, cafés, bars and offices. There will be one tall building on the site, which will be 20 storeys high, alongside a number of lower rise buildings of between three and five storeys.

Local planning authority Greenwich Council granted permission for phases three, four and five of the Village, which includes outline permission for 1,746 mixed-tenure homes and detailed permission for 459 homes.

The 24 hectare site is being developed by Greenwich Millennium Village Limited, a joint venture development by Countryside Properties and Taylor Wimpey, in association with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

Architects Jestico + Whiles led the design work on the plans, working in conjunction with architects Peter Barber Architects and Studio 54 Architecture.

Design Council CABE and the Greater London Authority (GLA) have endorsed the plans, the developers said. The design was also commended by the Port of London Authority (PLA), as part of the planning discussions.

“The Thames is a busy working river and this design offers an innovative solution that should allow stylish residential accommodation to co-exist next to essential riverside cargo operations with the impact minimised as far as possible,” the PLA said.

The design offers a "human-scale" scheme that uses a mixture of townhouses and apartments in lower rise buildings of between three and five storeys, to focus strongly on street life, the developers said.

“The creation of sustainable neighbourhoods is at the heart of our approach to the masterplan: creating places in which people want to live through different stages of their lives," said Heinz Richardson, director of Jestico + Whiles.

"Our aim is to encourage the development of a real community through our design. Urban squares within the network of streets will offer places for children to play and for social events to take place, while pedestrians and cyclists will be given priority in the heart of the Village,” the architects added.  

The new plans seek to update the original vision contained in the development's masterplan, designed by Ralph Erskine in the 1990s. The proposed plans include a number of passive and active energy management measures, including combined heat and power (gas-fired and biomass/biofuel), greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting, the developer added.