Jestico + Whiles’ Canning Town homes approved

Councillors in east London have approved Jestico + Whiles’ designs for 147 new homes on the edge of a wider regeneration project in Canning TownNewham Council’s planning committee voted unanimously on Tuesday night (14 February) to back the scheme, paving the way for work to begin later this year.The 0.8ha Vincent Street development is an initial phase of the 1,510-home masterplan being drawn up by Jestico + Whiles for the surrounding estate.The practice proposes building five brick-clad blocks between five and nine storeys tall on what is a brownfield site to the south-east of the wider 10ha masterplan site.All of the one-to-five-bed homes for Victoria Gardens Development will be at London affordable rent. One block will be composed of five townhouses.Once completed, the development will include 1,91m 2 of new community space along with new public realm, car parking, and highway works on the nearby A13, which dissects the wider site.A green roof and community gardens will lead to a biodiversity net gain while the inclusion of air source heat pumps and solar panels will reduce the scheme’s emissions, councillors were told.Jestico + Whiles won a competition in June last year for the overall scheme, which will see up to 1,510 homes built in place of existing housing stock on the site, otherwise known as Strategic Site S15, as outlined by the local authority in 2018.The overall development, once complete, will include 3,500m 2 of non-residential space.Speaking after the practice’s appointment on the masterplan last year, Jestico + Whiles’ project lead Alex Luria said: ‘We are proud to be joined by a group of great designers with a diversity of knowledge and experience to bring our submission’s central ideas of engagement, sustainability, and co-design to fruition.‘The team shares the wider Newham community’s aspirations for the site, and we are looking forward to working closely with the council to deliver something special.’The development team includes architects Deft.Space, Architecture Doing Place and AR Urbanism, as well as engineer and consultant Buro Happold.