Councillors at Barking and Dagenham approved an agreement with Weston Homes this week to buy 62 new homes on their Town Quay Wharf development along the River Roding.
The decision means once the development is complete, the council will get the homes for around £14.6mil and then offer them for rent at affordable prices to local people.
The council homes will be part of a wider development on the River Roding which is one of London’s most atmospheric but little-known waterside locations.
Cllr Darren Rodwell, Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, said: “The River Roding is being transformed into one of the best places for waterside living in London. This new deal will give local people the opportunity to live in a fantastic development at genuinely affordable rates.”
Ed Skeates, Development Director at Be First said: “This decision is great investment for the council and local people. It means quality new homes at great rates in a superb setting.”
Bob Weston, Chairman & Chief Executive of Weston Homes says: “Weston Homes is delighted to have reached agreement to provide the affordable homes at Town Quay Wharf to Barking & Dagenham Council, these new Council homes will assist with the provision of much needed low-cost housing for local people. Town Quay Wharf will help to reconnect Barking town centre with the waterfront and create a vibrant new waterfront development with the apartments benefitting from a waterside and parkside setting.”
Bob Weston adds: “Weston Homes has established an excellent working relationship with Barking and Dagenham Council and Be First, its pioneering regeneration body, and this will be the company’s tenth residential development in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
“Town Quay Wharf and our neighbouring Abbey Quays scheme are providing the Borough with major inward investment and helping to revitalise the Barking waterfront, underlining Weston Homes role as one of the leading residential developers in the local area.”
Town Quay Wharf is a mixed-use development which will provide a total of 147 newly built one, two and three bedroom apartments, consisting of the 62 council homes and 85 private sale apartments, and 1,000 sqm of commercial space located in three new buildings designed around a public plaza overlooking the Mill Pond and River Roding.
The development is due to be completed in 2024/25 when the 62 new council homes will be handed over to the council.
To design the Town Quay Wharf development, Weston Homes worked closely with PRP Architects, heritage consultants Iceni, the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham and Be First, the Borough’s pioneering urban regeneration company.
The architecture is inspired by the adjacent mill and maritime buildings with pitched roofs with dormer balconies, industrial warehouse style brick facades in contrasting colours, floor-to-ceiling windows, generously sized balconies and colonnaded raised ground floors.
On the ground floor of the buildings there are food and beverage commercial units and workshops and artist’s studios, alongside entrance foyers for the apartments on the upper floors. Scheme is complete with parking bays and cycle storage.
Along the waterfront, immediately to the north of the new Town Quay Wharf development, is Abbey Quays by Weston Homes which will provide 1,089 new homes of mixed tenure alongside retail, commercial and leisure facilities.
