Ballymore Thames-side flats: mixed-use density and phasing notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Ballymore has secured planning consent from the London Borough of Newham for 1,685 homes on its Thames Road industrial brownfield site on the north bank of the Thames, east of Thames Barrier Park, with construction expected to start in 2027. The Unex scheme, designed by Howells, adds more than 13,500 sq m of light industrial and flexible workspace, a new primary school, a riverside park and ground-floor retail and community uses, creating a dense mixed-use waterfront quarter. A sister Knights Road proposal in West Silvertown, by Allies & Morrison, would add a further 1,667 homes and 4,000 sq m of light industrial and flexible space if approved.
Technical Brief
- Thames Road consent explicitly covers mixed typologies: mansion blocks, townhouses and contemporary co-living buildings.
- Architectural palette specified as varied brick tones, referencing Royal Docks’ historic industrial fabric.
- Unex scheme positions residential blocks directly on a former industrial brownfield plot on the Thames’ north bank.
- Newham’s approval enables Ballymore to sequence works as a follow-on to its completed Royal Wharf scheme.
- Royal Wharf completion in 2020 provides nearby precedent for ground conditions, remediation strategies and riverfront infrastructure tie-ins.
- Knights Road sister scheme in West Silvertown proposes 1,667 homes plus 4,000 m² of light industrial/flexible space.
Our Take
Ballymore’s Thames Road and Knights Road schemes in London sit alongside its separate 50/50 JV with Penta Real Estate to deliver more than 680 homes across two other London sites, signalling that the Ballymore group is building a multi-node residential pipeline in the capital rather than relying on a single flagship project.
With Royal Wharf completed in 2020 and the Thames Road build not expected to start until 2027, Ballymore appears to be spacing major Royal Docks interventions roughly a decade apart, which typically allows local infrastructure and transport upgrades to catch up between phases of high-density development.
Among the 449 Infrastructure stories in our database, relatively few focus on repeat regeneration by the same private developer in a single London sub-region, so Ballymore’s cluster of Royal Docks and West Silvertown projects marks it out as a long-term place-maker rather than a one-off scheme promoter.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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