A land deal between TfL’s property arm and a developer has paved the way for work to start on 575 new homes on top of Woolwich’s Elizabeth Line station.
Places for London has handed over the land at the east end of the station to Berkeley Homes, which plans towers of up to 26 storeys around the emergency exit at the east end of the station.
Councillors gave the plans their backing in October and final approval was given in March. The developer now has until March 2029 to start work on Armourers’ Court.
Berkeley originally handed the site to TfL in 2010 after Woolwich was initially left out of the Crossrail project by central government and City Hall. One the site was no longer needed for station works, development was delayed by new fire regulations introduced in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.
The scheme was criticised for lacking a second entrance to Woolwich station, which opened in 2022. An estimated 13.7 million journeys start or finish at Woolwich each year, but TfL told the council there was not enough demand for a second entrance.
At the planning meeting that approved the scheme, Paul Pritchard, the development director of Berkeley Homes, said the scheme would not rule out “a second station access on land to the east of the development”.
Since then the iO Centre, a low-rise industrial estate, has been included in the council’s draft Local Plan as a site suitable for development, while Labour pledged to support a second entrance in its manifesto for the council election in May.
Of the 575 homes, some 138 homes will be for social rent with 49 for shared ownership.
Rob Perrins, the executive chair of Berkeley Group, said: “We are extremely grateful to Places for London, the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the GLA for working with us over many years to overcome a series of regulatory challenges. There is still some way to go, but we are very pleased to have reached this milestone, and were very fortunate to have the backing of a genuinely supportive and effective planning authority here in Greenwich.
“At Berkeley we’re very proud to be delivering 10% of all new private and affordable homes in London as we regenerate many of the city’s most challenging brownfield sites, including Royal Arsenal.”
Susanne Maguire, the head of property development at Places for London, said: “We are delighted to have reached this milestone, enabling the delivery of hundreds of new homes, commercial space and more, right above London’s newest railway line. We have worked together for several years to get to this point and it is great that Berkeley will now be able to move ahead and create this new community in the heart of Woolwich, helping address the housing crisis here in London.
“By targeting the delivery of 35 per cent affordable homes, this development will open up opportunities for more people to take their first steps on the housing ladder and getting them into the heart of London in a matter of minutes.”
Places for London is also in charge land next to Woolwich Arsenal station left over from the construction of the DLR extension in 2009. Early plans for homes and shops went nowhere but Places for London still plans to develop the eyesore sites. It recently erected banners to improve the look of the area.
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