Pollard Thomas Edwards achieves planning permission for new creative studios next to Hackney Wick station The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) has resolved to grant planning permission for a major mixed-use development with connections to Hackney Wick station and across the canal to the Queen Elizabeth Park. The development is the latest in a series of joint ventures between PTE Property (the development arm of Pollard Thomas Edwards) and Groveworld Limited. It will be the first step in the creation of a new Neighbourhood Centre for Hackney Wick being promoted by the LLDC to encourage a greater diversity and intensity of use in an area characterised by factories and warehouses - many of them now in temporary use as artists’ studios. The development includes a new route to the station and will connect into a network of streets and yards. PTE’s proposals include around 50,000 sq ft of creative studios, local shops, a restaurant and gallery. The developer is working with managed workspace provider Cell Studios to let the workspace at subsidised rents to artists and other cultural and creative businesses. Some of these will occupy a restored and converted existing factory building. Above the studios will be 120 new apartments, including large open-plan lofts. The design takes its cue from the area’s industrial heritage and features robust brickwork, decorative metal screens and a roofscape modelled on north-lit factories. The development team is comprised of:

• East London Regeneration (Wallis South) Ltd - a joint venture between property developers and investors Groveworld and PTE Property
• Pollard Thomas Edwards - architects
• Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners - planning consultants

Construction of the scheme could start in early 2016, with completion expected in 2018.