Mayor of London selects Berkeley Homes to develop former Parcelforce site

Plans for the 10 hectare site in Newham include 3,500 new homes, a new school, green space and approximately 30,000 square feet of retail space.  According to the mayor's statement, the homes will be a mixture of buy and rent and will include a "significant proportion of shared ownership and purpose-built private rented homes. More than 1,200 of the 3,500 homes will be affordable."

The development is subject to planning approvals and a planning application is expected to be submitted in 2016 with the first homes being completed in 2018.

The depot was acquired by the mayor in 2004 and was used for temporary relocations connected to the Olympic Games in 2012. The redevelopment of this site is "part of the mayor's pledge to release all City Hall-owned land for development by the end of his mayoral term in 2016".

It also is part of Johnson's push to "strengthen institutional investment on the residential market in London".

The mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “This huge chunk of disused land will be put to the best possible use, creating a whole new neighbourhood including 3,500 much-needed new homes, a new school and a park. This ambitious development will help to further the continuing transformation of east London as part of our Olympic legacy.”

Planning expert Susanne Andreasen of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said "This will be an exciting development to come forward as part of the mayor's plans for housing delivery in east London over the next decades. The Berkeley Group of companies is emerging as a key player contributing to the planned growth of this part of the capital, with St William, its joint venture with National Grid, portfolio also comprising a number of east London sites."