Planning permission was granted today (13 March) to the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) and London Borough of Hackney for their joint masterplan for Hackney Wick Central, near to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The Hackney Wick Central masterplan will deliver a new neighbourhood centre around Hackney Wick Station, which recently benefited from a £28m upgrade, funded by LLDC, GLA, London Borough of Hackney and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Indicative images are available here.

The masterplan will transform the area around Hackney Wick Station which will become a thriving town centre, supporting existing communities and a new development of up to 850 new homes,  re-providing affordable workspace, as well as providing space for new retail, restaurants, bars, and community facilities. The scheme will retain over 8400 square metres of affordable workspace including low cost space for artists, creative businesses and start-ups, ensuring the local creative economy of Hackney Wick continues to thrive, and local people can benefit from the changes in the area. In addition there will be a significant increase of nearly 18,000 square metres of new employment space that will accommodate and enable growth in burgeoning tech and creative businesses.

The masterplan will provide a framework for individual developers to bring forward their sites in line with a comprehensive vision for the area. The masterplan site also sits within two Conservation Areas and will build on Hackney Wick’s distinctive character and industrial heritage.

A tiered approach to affordable housing has been agreed with the Greater London Authority, with public sector land owned by the LLDC delivering a minimum of 50%, with private sites split between minimums of 35% and 20%. Some sites that benefited from earlier planning permissions within the masterplan area have already begun to be delivered, but major landowners such as the LLDC will now look to take forward schemes immediately adjacent to the station.

LLDC has been working closely with businesses in Hackney Wick, invested in supporting business retention and is currently developing programmes to promote local business growth, as well as exploring opportunities for local people to move into jobs. Hackney Wick and Fish Island have been awarded Creative Enterprise Zone status by the Mayor of London which will see further investment that will support the local business community and enable greater access for young people looking for job/careers in the Cultural and Creative industries.

LLDC has also been working with its development partner for East Wick and Sweetwater and Make Shift, a company which re-purposes underused urban spaces, to develop land near Hackney Wick before it is turned into housing. The project, known as Clarnico Quay,  is expected to include  a number of  workshop units for small businesses, studios for artists, coworking space for start ups,  event spaces and food and drink outlets. This will provide additional interim workspace for businesses that may be affected by developments in the area as well as access to employment and access to enterprise for the local community. The long term aspiration is that business from Clarnico Quay will move into permanent work space being developed in the area. The project is due to commence construction in Spring this year and open in Spring 2020.

Lyn Garner, Chief Executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation, said: “It’s great that we can move on to the next stage of delivering a new town centre at Hackney Wick. This is part of a wider approach to support, protect, enhance and grow existing businesses as well as providing much needed new homes and neighbourhood infrastructure.”