Clarion–Hill Woolwich scheme: design and heat network notes for project teams
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Clarion Housing Group is partnering with The Hill Group to deliver 188 new social rent apartments in Blocks D and E of a 557-home mixed-tenure redevelopment linked to the Woolwich Leisure Centre scheme in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The one, two and three-bedroom units, secured via a Section 106 agreement, are positioned in Woolwich town centre near Woolwich Arsenal DLR and the Elizabeth Line, targeting households on the local waiting list. All homes will connect to a district heat network supplied by air source heat pumps, with construction starting later in 2024 and first completions expected in 2029.
Technical Brief
- Section 106 developer obligations secure the 188 social rent units within the mixed-tenure consent.
- Clarion has purchased the entirety of Blocks D and E’s social rent provision to lock in tenure.
- The 188 units form roughly one-third of the 557-home masterplan’s total residential yield.
- District heating fed by air source heat pumps removes individual gas boilers, simplifying flue and plantroom design.
- Similar London mixed-tenure schemes increasingly use Section 106 to ringfence social rent within private-led developments.
Our Take
Clarion Housing Group’s Woolwich Leisure Centre redevelopment sits alongside other large-scale Clarion-led schemes in our database, such as the 7,750-home Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community, signalling a sustained push into complex, mixed-use regeneration rather than stand-alone housing estates.
The repeat pairing of Clarion Housing Group and The Hill Group at Woolwich follows Hill’s £45m phase-two High Path estate contract in Merton, suggesting Clarion is building a stable contractor framework for estate regeneration that could streamline procurement and standardise design and delivery approaches across London.
With 188 social rent homes out of 557 in the wider Woolwich development, this scheme reinforces Clarion’s pattern in recent London projects like Argenta House at Stonebridge Park, where a significant proportion of units are for social rent or shared ownership, which is likely to help with planning consent and political support in high-pressure boroughs such as Greenwich.
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.
