Canalside living: Hackney Wick apartments in former industrial zone with shared "incubator" space for start-ups

Developers are casting their nets over Fish Island, a former industrial zone in Hackney Wick.

This little-known East End backwater, where in 1865 the Gas Light and Coke Company established a small factory town that's now a conservation area, has been thrown into the spotlight by the transformation of Stratford.

For the last 20 years, the 50-acre site bordering Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has offered cheap studio space to hundreds of artists. However, the canalside land and buildings are now part of a masterplan to create a new neighbourhood with more than 5,000 homes, live-work dwellings, workshops and small business premises. Controversially, some old buildings occupied by creatives have been bulldozed for private flats.

The Foundry is a scheme of 121 apartments grouped around a central courtyard garden. All flats have floor-to-ceiling windows and a private balcony, and there are communal roof terraces. Prices from £443,000. Call Weston Homes on 020 8985 5597.

Though smartening up, Fish Island is not for the faint-hearted, being a gritty and graffiti-covered urban landscape. But that's not deterring fashionistas. Developer Aitch Group is progressing four projects with up to 250 homes aimed at young professionals working in Shoreditch and the City who would never choose to live in the new-build villages on the Olympic Park itself, while housing charity Peabody and developer Hill are bringing 580 canalside apartments priced from £477,500 at Fish Island Village. Call 020 3906 1950. The project includes on-site "incubator" spaces for design and digital start-up companies, freelancers and early stage entrepreneurs, creating more than 500 jobs.