Barking Riverside aims to be a new urban district on the north bank of the River Thames in East London; it is one of the capital's largest housing sites and amongst the most ambitious regeneration projects in the country. Occupying a 150 acre site, the development will accommodate 10,800 homes and 26,000 people by 2025. Design for London is design advisor for the project and participates in the Design Advisory Panel which holds regular monthly workshops with the masterplanning teams. We aim to steer the project to achieve the best and most beneficial design for its future community.

The project will transform the UK’s largest brownfield site into a new riverside urban community, with a mixture of housing types and tenures, good local services, and efficient local transport including East London Transit and the proposed Docklands Light Railway extension to Dagenham Dock. The project is also a key component of the East London Green Grid and will reconnect neighbourhoods north of the divisive A13 with the River Thames and the benefits it can bring.

The Urban Design Framework has been prepared by Maxwan Architects + Urbanists and received outline planning approval in 2006. Detailed designs for the first phase of development have been prepared by Maccreanor Lavington Architects and Sheppard Robson with landscape designers Gustafson Porter, street designers JMP and highway designers Hyder. The first homes open to new residents in September 2011 to coincide with the start of the school year in the development’s recently completed Rivergate Centre.

The project is being delivered by Barking Riverside Ltd, a joint venture company between the Homes & Communities Agency and Bellway Homes plc. The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is also an integral delivery partner.