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Fri March 29 2024

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Balfour Beatty moves into house-building with Olympic Park neighbourhoods

2 Mar 15 Balfour Beatty has signed a development agreement with the London Legacy Development Corporation to develop 1500 new homes on the Olympic Park.

East Wick will have up to 850 homes
East Wick will have up to 850 homes

A joint venture of Balfour Beatty and Places for People has been selected to develop the the new East Wick and Sweetwater neighbourhoods.

Balfour Beatty Investments will provide up to £35m of equity over eight years, representing half of the equity required. Balfour Beatty's UK construction business will deliver all the construction work, which is expected to generate £400m of revenue.

The transformation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London is being delivered by Balfour Beatty in a 50:50 joint venture with Places for People (PfP).

It will create two new neighbourhoods, to be called East Wick and Sweetwater, with up to 1,500 homes. Of these, 530 will be for private sale, 450 will be designated as ‘affordable’ and 500 will be for the private rented sector.

The Balfour Beatty/PfP offer was selected ahead of Grainger and a team of Mace, Argent and Peabody.

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East Wick will have up to 850 homes, including townhouses, mews, studios and flats and a new nursery. Sweetwater will have up to 650 homes and will include studios, apartments and family homes with private gardens, a new nursery, library and a health centre. Both communities will have a range of shops, restaurants, offices, workshops and new public open spaces.

The development will be constructed in phases over eight years with Balfour Beatty's UK construction business delivering all of the construction. It is expected that there will be 350 workers on site at the peak of construction. PfP will manage sales and letting, deliver housing and operational services and take ownership of the affordable housing.

Balfour Beatty chief executive Leo Quinn said: "This project marks our entry as an investor and developer into the UK's regeneration and housing sector. This market is growing and offers significant opportunities for the group in the coming years.

"I look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the London Legacy Development Corporation to ensure that commitments made as part of the London 2012 Games are delivered by not only creating new communities but also new jobs, and apprenticeships for young people wanting to join the growing infrastructure sector.  With our partner, Places for People, we are very excited to be able to create these new, vibrant, sustainable communities for East London."

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: "This is the most successful and fastest growing city anywhere in Europe, and it is absolutely vital we provide thousands of new houses to allow people to live close to their places of work. I am thrilled to confirm we have now appointed high quality developers to help bring forward plans for these important new neighbourhoods on our iconic Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a whopping six years ahead of target."

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