Docklands News

The number of planning applications and construction starts on tall buildings in London plummeted last year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, an industry survey has revealed. New London Architecture’s Annual Tall Buildings Survey found that 24 tall buildings, classed as 20 storeys or above, commenced construction in 2020, compared with 44 in 2019, as lockdowns and uncertainty affected work on site. The total pipeline of buildings in planning and construction currently stands at 587 tall buildings, up 7.9% from 544 in 2019, while planning permissions for new tall buildings in London were 10.8% higher in 2020 compared with 2019. The survey identified Tower Hamlets as a tall building hotspot, with Greenwich also seeing a significant increase.

Property Week (16/04/2021)

The mini-boom enjoyed by London’s property market appears to be running out of steam after prices dropped in February. Land Registry showed that the average cost of a home in the capital dipped 1.4% in the month to £496,269, which is still 4.6% up on a year earlier, but London's annual rate of growth is now the lowest for any region in the country. The biggest rises were in leafier outer London boroughs. Prices rose 13.3% over the year to February in Merton, by 11.7% in Sutton, and 11.4% in Ealing. Nationally, house price inflation rose to 8.6%, the highest since October 2014.

Evening Standard (21/04/2021)

House prices set for ‘summer bounce’
House prices are in line for a summer bounce following the extension of the stamp duty holiday announced by the Chancellor in his March Budget, according to analysis from home-moving services firm reallymoving. The reallymoving House Price Forecast March 2021 suggests that prices were heading downwards before the extension of property tax relief was confirmed. The firm said conveyancing quote volumes began to accelerate around March 3 - the day of the Budget - and were 51% above normal levels by mid-March and over 100% higher than normal levels by the start of April. With a 2.8% increase in the average value of deals being agreed, reallymoving expects this to be reflected in Land Registry Price Paid data in June.

Daily Express (19/04/2021)

The new government-backed mortgage scheme has officially launched, with Lloyds, Santander, Barclays, HSBC UK and NatWest among the first to launch under the scheme. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick commented: “For too many people, no matter how hard they work, home ownership can seem out of reach. One of the biggest divides in our country has been between those who can afford their own home and those who cannot.” He went on: “The new mortgage guarantee scheme which comes into effect today will give providers the confidence to lend and help families and young people get on the property ladder without the prohibitive burden of a large deposit.” Michelle Andrews, HSBC UK’s head of buying a home added: “After such a turbulent year it is great that this scheme will make a real difference in enabling first-time buyers who didn’t think they would have a chance of getting a mortgage and home movers to get the keys to their new home” .

Daily Mail (19/04/2021) Evening Standard (19/04/2021)

Canary Wharf Group (SWG) has dropped plans for a Squire & Partners-designed office tower in favour of a new residential skyscraper by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). The landowner received permission in 2015 for 90,000 sq m of office space at 1 Park Place, but never acted on it. Now it has submitted a scoping report to Tower Hamlets Council, outlining plans for a 60-storey tower with more than 700 rental flats and a smaller six-storey tower with shops, co-working space and leisure space. It confirmed SOM as the architect for the Docklands development, which will sit next to the Morgan Stanley building at 25 Cabot Square. A CWG spokesperson said: “Canary Wharf is a mixed-use estate with a pipeline of more than 5 million square feet of future office space and more than 3,000 apartments…In the residential sector, we have already successfully opened two award-winning purpose-built rental buildings on the eastern side of Canary Wharf at Wood Wharf, and two more residential rental buildings will open this summer along with our first privately sold apartments”.

Architects’ Journal (13/04/2021)

City AM and the Evening Standard both compare the housing policies of London mayoral candidates Sadiq Khan (Labour), Sian Berry (Green), Luisa Porritt (Lib Dem) and Shaun Bailey (Conservative), noting that incumbent Khan has set a target of building 10,000 new council homes as a part of his wider target to build 122,000 affordable homes between 2016 and 2023. Mr Bailey promises to build 100,000 shared ownership homes that would be sold for £100,000 each. Ms Berry said that she will lobby the Government to cancel the right-to-buy scheme in London to make sure that council housing stocks are not depleted. Ms Porritt’s policies include a pledge to convert empty office space in Central London post-COVID into affordable housing.

City AM (12/04/2021) Evening Standard (12/04/2021)