Peter Eaton – Co-Chair of MBCG responds to the question everyone is asking
– What Happens Next?
Now that the Planning Inspector, Mr. Glen Rollings, has issued his approval decisions on the Stag site Appeals for A – the whole site, and B – the secondary school, the burning question everyone is asking, is – What Next?
Before almost anything can happen on the site there are numerous Planning Conditions to be satisfied, even before any demolition works can take place. Some of these conditions will take time to be dealt with by the developer and their consultants, and then will be overseen by Richmond’s Planning department.
City Developments’ Strategy & Next Steps
Firstly, however, there is the question of the intent and strategy to be adopted by City Developments – the Singaporean site owners. They now have added considerable value via the planning consent and will now be actively considering next steps,
Due process has been followed and the Inspector was fastidious in giving a voice to all those residents and interested parties who wished to contribute throughout the Inquiry. It is clear that MBCG has reached the end of the legal road. It is possible that the GLA, who opposed the Appeals, may decide to challenge the decision through a process known as Judicial Review, However, this would be very expensive and we believe unlikely. The GLA would have 6 weeks to do so if they chose to challenge.
City Developments Limited (CDL), are a big player in the Pacific Basin but have limited experience in building-out schemes in the UK. Reselton is their development ‘vehicle’ for this scheme with Dartmouth Capital as their development managers. Neither of these are house builder developers.
So, what is next likely to happen is that CDL will seek a joint venture (JV) with one of the established, major housebuilders/contractors. Dartmouth Capital has already issued a press statement that this might be a strong possibility.
We assume that these discussions have been taking place already, but any JV Agreement will take months to finalise.
Secondary School and Department of Education Schools Review
A major question still remains unanswered as to whether the Department of Education (DfE) will fund the 44 proposed new free schools across the UK which have not yet started on site. The Stag site’s Livingstone school is one of the 44 currently under review in terms of need, value for money and curriculum content.
If the funds for the Stag school are pulled by the DfE then this presents the developer with an opportunity to redesign the area allocated for the school site. This would involve a new planning application with all the necessary prior consultation etc. It of course opens the door for the potential relocation of Thomson House School, one of MBCG’s long-standing objectives, additional affordable homes, and the retention of the Sports Fields.
The Conditions attached to the current planning consent take account of a no-school scenario and even if the DfE continue to fund the Stag secondary school they still have just 12 months to sign up to a lease for the land and sign a Community Agreement for residents’ use of school facilities
Phase 1 Development
The Council have insisted on the affordable homes as Phase 1 – the blocks just north of the school and the playing fields. The school, if funded, would also be part of Phase 1. It is almost certain that the affordable blocks will be delivered via a Housing Association, and we know that the developers have already had discussions with the Richmond Housing Partnership as a potential ‘partner’ to deliver these blocks. This will be just 65 family sized units, just 7% of the overall number of market value homes to be built.
Both the school and the affordable blocks will require full Detailed Design, followed by tendering stages prior to selection of a contractor, and all pre-demolition / construction planning conditions will need to be satisfied. Even if this process started immediately, it could take 12-16 months before shovels are in the ground. In addition, the site will be subject to a robust archaeological survey before any building can take place.
Demolition of Brewery Structures & Buildings
This is a major undertaking and requires many planning conditions to be satisfied prior to start of works. Dartmouth Capital have indicated to us that they would demolish all existing buildings under one contract for both sides of Ship Lane. Their planning application reports indicated that the demolitions would take at least 6 months to complete. This may be optimistic given the access restrictions. We estimate that it could take up to 6 months to prepare, submit and satisfy the pre-demolition planning conditions.
Market Housing
In terms of any development of the early phases of the ‘market’ homes and commercial uses at ground level, there is still much to progress in terms of Detailed Design and tendering, satisfying pre-construction planning conditions etc. After demolition, the blocks to the east are planned as early phases of market homes but the basements need to be constructed first.
It is difficult to see these started any sooner that say 2027 given the complexities of the process and flood protection issues.
Conclusion
Taking all of this into account the way forward is complicated, with the question of the school’s future adding further complexity. We see no meaningful works on site commencing until much before Spring/ Early Summer 2026.
In the meantime, we understand that existing tenants in the offices and the film studios have been served notice to vacate.
We will of course keep close to Dartmouth and City Developments to better understand their development strategy and sequencing of works. We will of course keep the community regularly updated via the website and through regular emails.
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