Transport for London (TfL) is on course to form a joint venture partnership with a consortium of property developers in order to build new housing on the 280-bay car park it owns opposite Blackhorse Road station in Waltham Forest.
The transport body has announced that BLLQ, a company formed by commercial developer Barratt London and the London and Quadrant housing association, is its “preferred bidder” to be part of the joint venture, whose purpose will be to build approximately 350 new dwellings on the site for completion in 2022.
Of these, half would be “affordable”, in line with London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s requirement for new homes delivered on TfL-owned land. TfL first embarked on forming joint ventures with property developers under Khan’s predecessor Boris Johnson, but no “affordable” percentage was demanded of such deals under the Conservative Mayor.
Mayor Khan’s “50% affordable” policy for developable land in his transport agency’s portfolio is an important part of pursuing what he calls his “long-term, strategic goal” of 50% of all new housing units across Greater London meeting his definition of “genuinely affordable”.
TfL’s announcement does not specify how much pf the joint venture company it will own or what sorts of affordable housing the 50% will comprise, though the Mayor’s election manifesto emphasised that shared ownership homes (“part-buy, part-rent”) prioritised for local first time buyers in the private rented sector would be built on “mayoral and other public land”, especially in Outer London.
Welcoming the news, Waltham Forest Council leader Clare Coghill said the announcement “moves us a step nearer to creating a new, vibrant town centre in the Blackhorse Lane area” complementing other, adjacent housing and commercial developments, the refurbishment of the station (which is served by the Victoria Line and London Overground) and improvements to a local road junction.
TfL sought bids in March to form the joint venture from interested members of its 13-strong property partnership framework, a group of commercial developers and housing associations formed in February 2016 to work with it on its land development drive which included the tie-up between Barratt and London and Quadrant. The transport body said it hoped to raise £1.1bn from resulting property schemes on 300 acres of is estate, all for re-investing in the capital’s transport network.
The new Blackhorse Road announcement follows the selection of Triangle London Developments, a consortium of Notting Hill Housing and U + I, as preferred bidder for a partnership to develop TfL sites in Kidbrooke and Landmark Court, near Borough Market.