9 August 2013
Two locations in East London have been earmarked by the Greater London Authority (GLA) as potential sites for people to work with a custom build developer to build their own home.
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The two opportunities are at Beam Park – a 29-acre former industrial site close to South Dagenham/Hornchurch; and Barking Riverside (pictured) – a 443-acre area of reclaimed land in the Thames Gateway.
Both locations could potentially provide between 100-200 custom build units. Plans are still in the infancy, however The Self Build Portal understands that work could start in as little as 18 months’ time.
The GLA’s vision is to stimulate the growth of the custom build homes market and demonstrate the viability and sustainability of custom build business.
GLA Area Manager Tom Lloyd-Smith said: “We thought about which of our sites might be suitable for custom build and felt that these two were the most suitable”.
The Authority is also keen to engage with all the Outer London boroughs to identify other possible sites too. “We’ve got a pot of custom build loan finance to spend and one option is to work with local authorities to purchase an additional site for development,” Lloyd-Smith added.
The latest plans have already received the support of Richard Blakeway (pictured), London Deputy Mayor for Housing, Land and Property, who is very keen to see an element of custom build on both sites. “It will be a really interesting test,” he said, “but I’m conscious that we need to do a lot of work to make these sites a real proposition. For people in London, land is a big issue, and here we have numerous acres of land sat vacant. There are certainly possibilities here.”
