A bold new vision for an estate in need of regeneration is at the heart of an outline planning application that has been submitted to Tower Hamlets Council.

The outline planning application promotes the ambitious transformation proposed for the Blackwall Reach area, which includes Robin Hood Gardens, Woolmore Street, Mackrow Walk and Anderson House. It has been developed in consultation with the local community by the council and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in partnership with Swan Housing Association / Countryside Properties.

The key aims of this major regeneration project include:

• More Homes: up to 1,700 new, high quality homes including approximately 700 for social rent and shared ownership. This means a significant increase in the provision of affordable, family-sized homes on the existing estate
• New replacement homes for council tenants and home owners living in the Robin Hood Gardens area
• A transformed public realm including improved community facilities, open space, new shops, a relocated mosque and funding for an expanded local school
• Improved transport connections including measures to overcome the area’s isolation at the mouth of the Blackwall Tunnel
• Community benefits including employment and training initiatives for local residents and, in addition, a phased £1 million endowment that will be made available to a trust to be set up by the council

In February 2011 the council and the HCA selected Swan / Countryside as their development partner for Blackwall Reach and Horden Cherry Lee Architects have been working on the outline planning application on behalf of the council and the HCA.


The outline application is aimed at communicating the aspirations for Blackwall Reach and setting a benchmark for design quality. The highest sustainability and construction principles will be incorporated as the project moves into the detailed design stage. This outline plan will be followed up shortly by a detailed application for phase one of the scheme.

Mayor Lutfur Rahman, Tower Hamlets Council, said: "The Blackwall Reach project is truly exciting. It will enable us to deliver a net gain of affordable homes, including many family homes, to meet the growing need in the borough. This project continues to place Tower Hamlets at the forefront of social housing: from the first social housing estate in England, the Boundary Estate, to a high level of Decent Homes investment, we continue to buck the national trend in providing affordable, high standard homes to our residents."

(CD/GK)