Mayor accelerates the release of land to deliver 3,500 new homes in London

Johnson is releasing plots owned by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in a bid to speed up the building of homes in London. He is currently on track to deliver a record 50,000 affordable homes by Spring 2012.

Four former hospital sites which have been identified as “highly suited to housing development” are amongst the sites to be released early. The development will act as a catalyst for wider community regeneration schemes, Johnson said.

The HCA London Board announced the release of Lymington Fields, an 8.1 hectare plot in Dagenham, on Friday.. The land was formerly home to an education college which was demolished 30 years ago.

Countryside Properties and Metropolitan Housing Trust are already delivering 193 mixed tenure homes on the site. Developers on the HCA’s Delivery Partner Panel will now be invited to submit proposals for new homes in a further phase of the development.

In 2012, The Localism Bill will transfer the functions of HCA in London to the Greater London Authority. Until then, the HCA will continue to release public land.

Since the beginning of 2011, the London Board of the HCA has agreed developments on six public land sites.

The release of Trenchard House in Soho has allowed Barratt London to develop the former Metropolitan Police building in Broadwick Street. Barratt intend to build 78 new homes, of which 65 will be affordable, subject to planning permission.

The HCA and Tower Hamlets Council are working with Swan & Countryside Properties to regenerate Blackwall Reach, a 7.7 hectare site in East London. Subject to planning permission the scheme will create 1,600 mixed-tenure homes, around 700 of which will be affordable and more than 250 of which will be family sized.

Developers Hadley Mace will work with the HCA, Greenwich Council and NHS Greenwich, to transform the former Greenwich District Hospital into a modern complex with 645 high-quality homes, almost a third of which will be family sized.

Developers generally are being invited to submit proposals for the regeneration of Cane Hill, an 82 hectare former hospital site in Croydon, and a ‘developer selection process’ is underway. The scheme is expected to deliver around 650 eco-friendly, mixed tenure homes, subject to planning.

St Clements and Queen Elizabeth, two former hospital sites in Tower Hamlets have capacity for up to 450 homes, subject to planning. Both are expected to have preferred development partners approved at the HCA’s London Board meeting in December.