Masterplan for Barking: the new 11,000-home neighbourhood transforming east London's industrial wasteland

Building new homes and communities along the eastern banks of the Thames has historical roots. Julius Caesar tried 2,000 years ago, before beating a hasty retreat to the civilised comforts of Rome.

In 1980, Michael Heseltine coined the phrase Thames Gateway — a 40-mile industrial corridor running from Docklands to the North Sea.

As environment secretary, his objective was to transform the largest swathe of brownfield land bordering any capital city in Europe into a thriving new region — a stepping stone to the markets of the Continent.

Barking Riverside, a 10,800-home neighbourhood, is the latest initiative. This pioneering new address aims to beautify an ugly industrial tract where a derelict listed power station has been snapped up by City of London Corporation as a new home for the capital’s three main food markets: Billingsgate, Smithfield and New Spitalfields.

Characterised by breakers’ yards, freight depots and incineration plants, for generations the area was not on the housing map.

“It had no postcode and was untouched by satnav,” says Matt Carpen, managing director of the project, a joint venture between housing association L&Q and the Greater London Authority, which is investing £300 million in infrastructure, starting with a new Overground station and riverbus pier, ready in 2021.

The 440-acre site has a raw beauty. Looming over a wide sweep of the tidal Thames, it has big skies and more than a mile of waterfront with mudflats and a nature reserve where wading and migrating birds attract twitchers.

Utilising the once-polluted river for leisure and educational purposes is a priority. An ecology centre is going up alongside the first phase of homes, which start at £285,000, with shared-ownership from £62,500. Call 020 8617 1747.

The aim is to entice young families to put down roots in a district getting seven new schools, health centres, community facilities, green space, cycle and jogging paths.

Half of the homes, a mix of flats and houses with gardens, will be genuinely affordable, due to the Mayor of London’s oversight, adds Matt Carpen.

The project is also trailblazing new environmental measures such as an Envac underground waste recycling system that avoids conventional bin lorry collections. Residents place rubbish in colour-coded chutes which open daily and transfer the contents direct to a community waste station.

Fresh healthcare ideas include prescription deliveries by drone, in collaboration with the NHS, while a design masterplan aims to ensure the homes will look cohesive and attractive.

Persuading Londoners to buy into this new Eden is perhaps the biggest challenge. Most interest to date has come from people living in outer east London who are familiar with the terrain.

But with the Overground station opening next year, buyers from south of the river are now embracing this new frontier.

And an even bigger transport prize is on the horizon: a tunnel under the Thames connecting Barking Riverside to the new Crossrail station at Abbey Wood.

Ballet teacher James Pullum and his dancer wife Danielle, currently appearing in the Theatreland production of Phantom of the Opera, seem an unlikely pair to be putting down roots in the raw post-industrial lands of east London.

But is their move a sign of things to come? “We don’t see ourselves as property pioneers — we just love the place,” says James, 32.

The couple, pictured with their little son and daughter Arthur and Esther, relocated to Barking Riverside from Sydenham, where they had rented privately for four years. In Sydenham, they enjoyed the convenience of the Overground, which became a big factor in their decision to buy at Barking Riverside.

“We heard that a new station was coming to Barking, so I started to research the area, only to discover it was in the top 10 places in the UK where people did not want to live,” says James.

Undeterred, and curious, they visited what is one of Europe’s biggest regeneration projects, with 10,800 homes on the banks of the Thames. They were wowed by its bleak beauty.

“It was one of those moments,” says James. “We knew right away it was going to be the place where we would settle. The price was good and there seemed to be a lot of upside, especially with the imaginative new neighbourhood planned. It’s going to be a stimulating place to bring up kids. The riverside location is awesome, and we love to walk along the nature trail.”

They paid £350,000 for a ground-floor three-bedroom apartment with balcony that also links to a communal garden.

Currently, their commute involves taking a short bus ride to Barking town centre, where there is a Zone 4 Tube station and lots of diversity, which they also like.

“There’s still a bit of a stigma about Barking, but I think people will start to look at it with fresh eyes once the Overground station opens and they can see what a promising place it is.”