Another of Boris Johnson's Mayoral projects has bitten the dust.
The Royal Albert Dock development was launched in 2013 in conjunction with Chinese developers AEP. It promised to transform a 35 acre site opposite London City Airport into a high density commercial district where Asian businesses would flock to invest. It was expected to deliver 20,000 full-time jobs, boost local employment in Newham by 30% and contribute £6bn to the UK economy. It never happened.
They built the first phase and opened up the dockside in 2019, but only one small Taiwanese technology company tookoffices and lockdown hit two weeks later. Instead the three rows of office blocks stood empty, with a particularly tumbleweed atmosphere along the brick canyon of Mandarin Street, and very little has changed today. The building closest to the DLR station now contains a Job Centre (by invitation only). The receptionist nextdoor always looks terribly bored. The Marketing Suite proved a complete waste of time and is still being used to store rolls of unused insulation. Anglo-Chinese nirvana has not materialised.
I've told you this story severaltimesbefore, the sterile streets of RAD being a favourite lockdown destination. What's changed this week is that the current Mayor has finally pulled the plug having issued a final warning to the Chinese developers last summer. They get to keep the 21 townhouse blocks already built but the remainder of the site is now to be retendered and a fresh future sought. And there is a heck of a lot of derelict public land still to play with. Boris tweeted this image of the completed development back in 2013. Only the buildings I've shaded in red have been built.
This is a prime site located conveniently close to Crossrail with multiple potential uses. The big downside is that it's bang opposite the point on the runway where planes land and take off, which probably puts the kybosh on any luxury residential quarter. A commercial future of some kind might make more sense, assuming work patterns post-Covid make that economic, or perhaps student accommodation because they can be shoeboxed anywhere. But that's still a decade essentially wasted, and there's no guarantee that what comes next is any better. BBC London has the full story.
London's Mayors have often made grand plans for the Royal Docks because it's one of the few expanses of public land they have reasonable control over. The Royal Docks is also London's only Enterprise Zone — one of just 48 nationwide - which means central government sometimes chucks in money too. So I thought I'd try listing some of the key Royal Docks projects over the years, several of which have yet to prove their full worth.
London City Airport (1987): This pre-Mayoral slice of infrastructure was fully supported by government, if not the GLC, and has been both wildly successful and woefully underused during its existence. It's always been hamstrung by its short runway and a ban on larger planes, but has still managed to increase the permitted engine size much to the annoyance of local residents. Mostly used by short haul business travellers, its latest wheeze is a request to introduce flights on Saturday afternoons which currently provide a period of audible respite. Some have argued that the airport could be removed now Crossrail links directly to Heathrow and better residential use made of the site, but I wouldn't bet on that idea taking off.
ExCeL (2000): This massive exhibition centre has proved an excellent use of a lot of undeveloped space, particularly if you like wearing a lanyard and walking round a maze of stalls. Phase 2 (the 'eastern gateway experience') opened in 2008 and you should be warned that work has just started on Phase 3 on what used to be the eastern car park. Admittedly most of the building is empty most of the time and ExCeL has mainly become an investment trinket for its Middle Eastern owners, but delegates looked to be having a good time at the 30th Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis yesterday.
Silvertown Quays: The derelict expanse around Millennium Mills has long been pencilled in for substantial development but nothing's ever come to fruition, and all sorts of film crews have taken advantage of the hiatus. A 2007 proposal for 5000 homes and a new London Aquarium (called Biota) was officially cancelled three years later. A different regeneration proposal emerged in 2012, including refurbishing the mills for business use, but has never materialised. Then last week Sadiq announced a £3.5bn regeneration package that essentially boils down to cramming in as many flats as possible, and we might see the first of those in 2024 or we might not.
The Dangleway (2012): The futility of Boris's cablecar is well documented.
The Crystal (2012): The idea that the Royal Docks needed a landmark eco-friendly building was entirely reasonable. The idea it should be a tourist attraction promoting Siemens corporate agenda was ridiculous as subsequent footfall later proved. Sadiq has recently managed to salvage a future for the spiky building by repurposing it as City Hall, but how much money that's actually saved remains questionable.
Silvertown Tunnel: Many assumed Sadiq would scrap Boris's road tunnel but instead he's doubled down and run with it, claiming it's the environmental option because it'll reduce congestion elsewhere. Many would vehemently disagree. Construction has reached the "almost ready to start tunnelling phase" and in 2025 we should discover whether the benefits of a new Thames crossing outweigh the downsides.
We can expect more Mayoral mis-steps in the future because big gambles don't always pay off, and round here they're bigger gambles than most. Whatever the Royal Docks is ultimately going to be, it very much isn't there yet.
