Barking Riverside is one of the most ambitious regeneration projects in the country. This project will transform the UK’s largest brownfield site into 175 hectares of vibrant, sustainable community which will eventually be home to 26,000 people as part of the Thames Gateway in London.
The ambition is to create a neighbourhood consisting of 10,800 homes, where people will want to settle and stay because they feel proud of where they live.
Barking Riverside is being delivered by Barking Riverside Ltd, a Joint Venture company between the Homes & Communities Agency and Bellway Homes plc.
In June 2009 Barking Riverside Ltd was given the go-ahead by London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham for the first two stages of development. Construction will begins in the Spring on 3,650 homes, new community infrastructure and two schools.
The approval of these stages paved the way for the construction of the first homes on this £3.5 billion project.
Funding has also been secured for a primary and a secondary school at Barking Riverside. Van Heyningen and Haward were recently appointed as architects of the schools and neighbourhood centre and it is expected to open its doors to its first pupils in autumn 2011.