Station location: TfL and Network Rail to be among London's biggest housing providers with plans for 15,000 new homes

A new housebuilding project creating neighbourhoods and regenerating areas across London is being launched by Network Rail and Transport for London.

The plan is to make a big dent in the Mayor’s target of 66,000 new homes a year by building about 15,000 on land that the two transport giants control. It’s a target that would dwarf the ambitions of even the largest private housebuilders.

Crucial to the scheme will be wealthy partners who can help to develop the sites, so Network Rail chairman and former TfL boss Sir Peter Hendy, a Routemaster owner, invited developers on a bus tour of tasty opportunities in central London to whet their appetites.

“Peter Murray [chairman of New London Architecture] and I have been doing these tours for non-profit causes, such as community work by the Westway Trust post-Grenfell and cycling road safety, for years,” says Hendy, who drives the bus, while Murray dons a conductor’s cap.

“We’ve seen what local authorities, developers and architects are doing. It was about time we showed them what Network Rail and TfL are up to.” Even at £250 a head for this latest bus tour, both decks were full.

In the last financial year major landowner TfL made 22 sites available for 3,850 homes. It will release enough land in 2018/19 for up to 4,000 homes and is working towards 15,000 homes by 2021, London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s target.

“The task is increasing because we’re also responsible for delivering the 12 over-station developments for the Elizabeth line,” says Graeme Craig, TfL commercial development director. “We’ll hit 3,000 homes this financial year (2018/19) and are hitting our target of 50 per cent being affordable.”

TfL is progressing more than 50 sites, from those aimed at small and medium-sized builders and Community Land Trusts, through to new neighbourhoods for 1,000 homes or more.

“A nice example is the redevelopment of Morden station in partnership with the London Borough of Merton, to reshape a whole town centre.” The scheme could deliver 2,000 homes, improved transport facilities, shopping and community uses.

One of TfL’s 12 Crossrail sites is the 12-acre Limmo site, next to Canning Town Tube station, for a new neighbourhood with 1,500 homes, of which 600, or 40 per cent, will be affordable.

“The notion is a variety of villages and towns, with a station at their centre,” says Craig. “We can reshape London’s town centres; our focus is increasingly on Zones 3 to 6.

“We are taking a 30-year view, so build-to-rent and private rented sector schemes, which are attracting investors, particularly around transport nodes, will provide an income stream. We work with the best global talent and also with the Mayor’s 50 design advocates to ensure quality.”

TfL has a team of 70 to achieve this. “If you own 5,500 acres of land, you are a property company,” adds Craig.

“Our remit is to address lack of affordable housing and to provide new workspace, light industrial space, and cultural space. We can bring forward about 12 sites every year, to deliver at least 3,000 homes with partners, and generate 10,000 homes by spring 2021.

“We’ve got sites ideal for modular construction, such as decking over car parking, where we need lighter and quicker methods than traditional building. We can create appropriate new construction skills.”

Network Rail has a national target to deliver 12,000 homes by 2020, of which 5,000 are in London, and of which it has delivered 1,400, says property MD David Biggs.

COMING UP

Twickenham station: “A good example, with a new station and 115 new homes and three new shops. We have a 50 per cent stake in a joint venture company called Solum with Kier Property,” says Biggs.

Solum was set up with Kier in 2008 as a multi-site joint venture vehicle. Then in 2016, developer Capco offered to buy a 50 per cent stake in Solum. Kier will continue to look at smaller-scale schemes, while Capco, via its stake in Solum, will look at larger schemes.

Clapham Junction: the busiest interchange in Europe will eventually provide 57 acres for development — the size of King’s Cross. “Clapham is an opportunity to create a whole new part of London, with a new station, and Crossrail 2,” says Biggs.

Half of the 31 major schemes Network Rail is looking at are in London. Most of the main London termini have been developed, but further development is planned at Paddington, Victoria and Waterloo. A developer is also now in place for the redevelopment of Euston to accommodate HS2. A major over-station scheme is planned for Victoria, and a new piazza at the front of the station.

Plans are also being put in place to develop Waterloo, where heritage and the local context are all-important. “How do we make the station a great enabler for more development and enhancements, to The Cut, for example?” says Biggs.

Network Rail is also putting together a second batch of smaller sites, having disposed of five for 300 homes in the last six months. Biggs’s team also has its eyes on Surbiton. “It is an absolutely lovely listed Art Deco station. We have a car park next door… could we develop homes above it?” he wonders.

Network Rail is also disposing of 2,400 railway arches in London, part of its national portfolio of 5,000, but TfL is hanging on to its London arch portfolio. The winner of the current bidding process should be announced “later this year”.

“Disposal of the arches will enable more investment,” says Biggs. “We’ve demonstrated how some of the arches can be regenerated. They are so important to communities and small businesses and we’ve asked bidders to demonstrate they understand the potential and are prepared to invest.”

Sir Peter Hendy’s bus tour is a popular charm offensive to woo the property industry: “We need partners. We’re looking for good ideas. We think there are great opportunities over the next 15 years. None of us would say we’ve finished exploiting the more suburban stations.”