Crossrail - Forest Gate Regenerates

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Obsidian Regeneration are due to lodge plans for a major property and retail development scheme on land surrounding Forest Gate's upcoming Crossrail station in London.

London politician Steve Norris's Obsidian Regeneration will this month lodge plans for a major development on land it has assembled around Forest Gate's new Crossrail station in East London.

Obsidian Regeneration is part of Obsidian Developments.  According to the company's website the group owns £40m of property assets and is working on schemes totalling over £350m of gross development value.  Its main areas of focus in the UK are office developments, data centres and regeneration schemes.

The Regeneration Scheme

The scheme proposes a 26-storey housing block next to the station, alongside shops, cafes and restaurants spread over three three-to-eight-storey buildings and three buildings of seven to 12 storeys and a makeover of Forest Gate high street.  The scheme proposes up to 850 homes.

The first phase of development will focus on new retail provision along the high street including a supermarket.

The company has said that the scheme would complement the town centre's existing Victorian character and revitalise the town centre by replacing a number of buildings by the station facing Earlham Grove, Woodgrange Road and Sprowston Road, as well as providing a new Methodist Hall and community facilities.

Obsidian has been working up the proposals to take advantage of a new Crossrail station in Forest Gate in 2017.

In December of last year the group unlocked the plans via the acquisition of the long leasehold interest in a council-owned vacated site, formerly 136 Earlham Grove, in Forest Gate town centre.

Newham also agreed an "in principle" decision to make a future Compulsory Purchase Order resolution to enable "comprehensive and beneficial regeneration of an area within Forest Gate town centre, conditional upon a satisfactory planning application being received and which the council subsequently resolves to grant."

The agreement sees all land within the regeneration area, whether acquired by Obsidian by private treaty or through a possible council CPO, together with existing Obsidian land holdings, held by the council as freehold owners with a series of long leasehold headleases to be granted to Obsidian.

Steve Norris, who is chair of Obsidian Regeneration, has been spearheading Obsidian's negotiations with Newham Council on the town centre project.

He is also chairman of Soho Estates and has been strongly linked with East London during a political career that has seen him run twice to be London mayor.  He is a former vice-chairman of the Conservative Party and as Under Secretary of State for Transport and Minister for Transport in London in the nineties was responsible for the Jubilee Line Extension.

Source: Ask-re The Property People LLP