A new neighbourhood outside the Olympic Park in east London will feature 480,000 square feet of office space and a 350-bedroom hotel, it has been announced.
Strand East in Stratford, located to the south of the Olympic Park, will be developed by LandProp, the London-based investment arm of the furniture retailer Ikea. It will be LandProp’s first major British development and is expected to be the second largest private investment in the Olympic Park after Westfield Stratford City shopping centre.
It is hoped that the 26-acre mixed-use development site will help boost the regeneration of the area. The Strand East site occupies land between the Three Mills Wall River, Stratford High Street and the River Lea waterways.
Some 1,200 new homes will be constructed on the site, of which 40 per cent will have at least three bedrooms, along with the new offices and hotel. Cafes and restaurants will also be set within distinct areas linked by landscaped, car-free walkways.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “This is yet another great example of the 2012 legacy rippling out of the Olympic Park and across east London.”
Harald Muller, the managing director of LandProp, believes the site will become part of the Olympic legacy and said the company has “the highest ambitions for Strand East”. Muller said: “We are hugely excited to be bringing forward these plans, we see Strand East as a place for families which contributes to the regeneration of Stratford and takes its place alongside the many neighbourhoods of London.”
LandProp said the purchase of 9.34 acres from the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) has taken most of the site under single ownership.
OPLC is tasked with securing the future of the Olympic Park site and its chief executive, Andrew Altman, said the land deal “clears the way for a significant investment in the area by a major international player”.
Altman said: “Our plans for the park and surrounding area at this stage are more advanced than any previous host Olympic city and we are determined to deliver an exciting mix of new homes, jobs and leisure opportunities to the local area.”
A public consultation is expected to begin shortly, while a planning application is due to be sent to the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation early next year.
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