Silvertown Partnership prepares shortlist for funding of Royal Docks £3.5bn scheme
The developers behind the £3.5bn regeneration of Silvertown Quays in London’s Royal Docks are in talks with several investors about the next stage of funding as work on the first phase of the 62-acre scheme gets underway.
The Silvertown Partnership, a consortium of developers made up of Chelsfield Properties, First Base and Macquarie Capital, are currently putting together a shortlist of potential investment partners, which they hope to announce this summer, chief executive Simon Webster said.
It has already kicked off work on the site after winning planning permission in December and expects to deliver the first phase, which includes revitalising the vast Millenium Mills building, by 2018/19.
Speaking to Morning Wire in Cannes, the former Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer director, said it aims to turn the docklands site into “the next Shoreditch” or Soho for creative companies thanks to the industrial heritage of the former flour mill, which will provide 450,000 square foot of office space.
“Millennium Mills is an iconic building in the Royal Docks in the same way that Battersea Power Station is to Nine Elms. We are getting it back to its raw concrete state and creating a cultural work environment that small to medium-sized businesses would naturally emphasise with,” he said.
Read More: Royal Docks’ Millennium Mills
In total the scheme, which is close to City airport and sits on the opposite side of the Thames to the Excel centre, will create seven million square foot of new residential and commercial space including 3,000 new homes, 35 per cent of which will be affordable.
He added that most homes will range between £700 to £800 per square feet, making them affordable for Londoners. And with transport links and infrastructure already in place, together with the arrival of Crossrail, Webster believes Silvertown has all the features to become then next commercial and residential hub.
“The concept of the area is that we are going to create good value commercial and residential space and that affordability for London will be supercharged by the arrival of Crossrail in 2018,” Webster said.