The Aitch Group has been given the green light by London City Council to invest £330 million in Belvedere Park to build 1,250 homes in Bexley.
The east London-based property group will transform the industrial site into a series of residential blocks with one hectare of green space.
This is good news for London’s property sector, which suffers from a chronic undersupply of housing – the number of new homes completed in 2024 has fallen by 20 percent compared to last year.
The number of housebuilding projects in England is at its lowest level since records began 17 years ago.
“We are delighted to have received planning permission for the New Belvedere project. This underlines our commitment to transformative developments that meet the needs and aspirations of local communities.
“This project represents a great opportunity to revitalize the area and provide much-needed housing, community amenities and economic stimulus,” said Laurence Quail, Managing Director of Aitch Group.
There will be different types of housing in different price ranges.
According to Aitch, the project is in line with Bexley Council’s development plan allocation and aims to “seamlessly connect residential, commercial and community spaces”.
London’s affordable housing problem
According to Aitch, only 15 percent of the homes built will be affordable, well below the 50 percent affordable housing target set out in Bexley’s community planning.
In theory, the London Plan stipulates that 50 percent of all new homes from all sources must be affordable, i.e. have a price that is at least 20 percent below the market price.
In recent years, there has been a stalemate in the provision of affordable housing as housing associations have struggled with high construction cost inflation, regulatory uncertainty and an underfunded and complicated planning system.
Last month, the property group won an appeal to remove social housing from its Croydon project.
The project will involve architects from PRP, planners from Litchfields and environmental consultants from RPS Group.
