City Hall is repositioning itself as an active developer, entering joint ventures and taking direct stakes in sites the market cannot deliver alone
The Greater London Authority (GLA) is to invest £100m in one of East London’s longest-stalled regeneration sites, marking the formal launch of a new development vehicle that will see City Hall take a direct role in delivering homes across the capital.
Sadiq Khan announced the move during a trade mission to Singapore and Japan, confirming that the GLA will join the Silvertown Partnership to co-develop a 60-acre site in the Royal Docks that has defeated successive administrations for more than four decades.
The investment – described as one of the largest made by any Mayor of London into a single development site – will support the delivery of 7,000 homes, with around 1,000 expected to be under construction by 2028.
The announcement formalises City Hall Developer, a new initiative through which the GLA intends to move beyond grant funding and enabling roles to become an equity participant in complex schemes. The model is designed to unlock sites where viability constraints, infrastructure deficits or financing gaps have prevented private-led delivery, using co-investment and joint venture structures to bridge the gap.
The approach is explicitly modelled on Singapore’s Housing and Development Board, which is responsible for building around 80% of homes in the city-state and owns the vast majority of land.
Khan and Silvertown Partnership representatives toured the SkyResidence development in Queenstown – one of the board’s earliest schemes – during the visit to examine the long-term outcomes of sustained state-led delivery at scale.
Khan said: “It has been fascinating to visit the Pinnacle housing development here in Singapore and see at first hand the impact of a state-led housing model. By becoming part of the Silvertown Partnership, we can have a similar impact in the Royal Docks, where we plan to deliver 7,000 new homes. This is a new era for housebuilding in London, with City Hall investing directly in new homes, unblocking stalled sites and speeding up development.”
The Silvertown challenge
The Silvertown site is one of the most closely watched regeneration projects in London — and one of the most problematic. Despite being GLA-owned land, managed through GLA Land and Property, and despite repeated attempts by different administrations to activate it, the site has remained largely dormant since the closure of its Victorian-era industrial uses.
A revised masterplan, approved by Newham Council in December, sets out a programme for 7,000 homes – 1,800 of them “affordable” – alongside seven million square feet of residential, commercial and public space.
The scheme also encompasses Millennium Mills, the listed industrial building that has become one of the area’s defining landmarks, and plans for a new pedestrian and cycle bridge across Royal Victoria Dock that will improve connectivity to Custom House and the Elizabeth Line.
The first phase of 1,032 homes is under way, with more than half classed as “affordable”. The Guinness Partnership, one of the scheme’s registered provider partners working alongside contractor Lendlease, has completed the first 106 homes and begun welcoming residents.
Ed Mayes, executive director of development for the Silvertown Partnership, said: “This investment provides the certainty needed to unlock a complex site that has remained dormant for decades, allowing us to accelerate new homes, including affordable housing, alongside a vibrant new town centre for the Royal Docks.
“Over the past five years, the sector has faced exceptional pressures. In this context, coordinated public sector investment is a meaningful intervention that enables delivery where the market alone cannot.”
Catriona Simons, group chief executive at The Guinness Partnership, said: “We are delighted to be delivering 734 much needed affordable, energy efficient homes in Newham. We have already welcomed 47 residents into the first 106 newly completed affordable homes, which will be part of this vibrant new neighbourhood in the heart of east London.”
Funding and pipeline
City Hall Developer is being underpinned by nearly £2bn from central government in grants and low-interest loans priced at 0.1 per cent – terms the GLA says are being made available for the first time.
The Mayor’s City Hall Developer Investment Fund has committed £1.5bn in low-cost loans to housing associations, bringing the fund’s total to £1.82bn. The Silvertown Partnership has separately secured £233m in infrastructure loan funding from Homes England.
The GLA intends to deploy funding in two ways: grants where schemes require wider infrastructure investment to become viable, and loans where developers face specific challenges around finance costs or capital access. Silvertown is described as the first in a broader pipeline of sites that the Mayor plans to bring forward through the initiative.
Khan acknowledged that market conditions remain difficult. “Housebuilding continues to be impacted by a perfect storm due to the disastrous legacy of the previous government, high interest rates, the rising cost of construction materials, the impact of the pandemic and Brexit and Building Safety Regulator delays,” he said.
Forhad Hussain, mayor of Newham, said: “Having City Hall as part of the Silvertown Partnership is a gamechanger for Newham and our ambitious long-term plans for the Royal Docks. The new approach by City Hall will give Silvertown the shot in the arm it needs to reach its full potential as east London’s new waterfront neighbourhood, while protecting the existing communities who have called the area home for many years.”
The Royal Docks ambitions extend well beyond Silvertown. The Mayor’s wider vision for the area includes more than 36,000 new homes and 55,000 new jobs, along with proposals for floating residential development and what would be the capital’s first large-scale floating park and lido.
The GLA says that since 2018, nearly 30,000 council homes have been built – or are being built – with City Hall funding, and that completions through GLA-funded programmes last year reached their highest level since 2016-17.
They do say that travel broadens the mind, and it’s certainly always worth a look to see what others are doing. London may not be a city state like Singapore, but that’s evidently little reason not to borrow from its playbook.
Main image: The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Image credit: Caroline Teo/Greater London Authority
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