A 280-home Hackney Wick co-living development has been given the green light after Tower Hamlets planners approved the scheme at Fish Island, in the latest sign of the continuing regeneration of one of east London’s former industrial districts.
Residential developer McLaren Living has secured planning permission from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to deliver the co-living scheme on Wansbeck Road, Property Week reports. The development will also include 44 affordable homes.
What the Hackney Wick co-living development will include
Designed by HTA Design, the scheme will see the 280 homes split across two buildings of seven and ten storeys. Residents will have access to a range of shared amenities, including a library, a gym and studio space, with communal areas throughout the building featuring kitchens, dining, social, cinema and creative rooms, as well as laundry facilities.
The proposals also include a new social co-working cafe and flexible pop-up event space, reflecting the live-work character of the area. The scheme will be car free, with sustainability features such as roof-mounted solar panels, and McLaren Living is targeting a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ certification for the development.
Ed Court, divisional managing director at McLaren Living, said: “We’re excited to deliver on our plans for Wansbeck Road, completing the regeneration of Fish Island, with the site an important remaining parcel of the Neptune Wharf masterplan.”
“Wansbeck Road represents one of inner London’s premier co-living investment opportunities, benefiting from a strong and diverse professional population, exceptional connectivity and outstanding access to key employment, education and leisure destinations across the capital.”
Completing the regeneration of Fish Island
Fish Island, a wedge of former industrial land bounded by the A12, the Hertford Union Canal and the River Lea Navigation close to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, has been undergoing a gradual transformation for more than a decade, with old warehouses giving way to homes, studios and workspaces.
The Wansbeck Road site is described by the developer as an important remaining parcel of the Neptune Wharf masterplan, suggesting the scheme is intended to complete a significant section of the wider Fish Island regeneration.
McLaren Living’s wider expansion
The Fish Island approval is the latest in a run of large-scale residential projects for McLaren Living. In November, the developer partnered with Heim Global Investor to develop a 456-home build-to-rent tower in Birmingham with a gross development value of £130 million, according to Property Week.
The area around the site is known for its concentration of artists, makers and creative businesses, which grew up in former warehouses and yards around Fish Island and Hackney Wick in the years following the 2012 London Olympics. Local roads take their names from freshwater fish — bream, dace and roach — a nod to the Island’s history. Whether the new co-living scheme will sit comfortably alongside the area’s established creative community will be one of the questions neighbours and planners continue to weigh as the regeneration of Fish Island reaches its final stages.
Co-living and London’s housing debate
Co-living developments, which combine private bedrooms with extensive shared communal spaces and are typically aimed at young professionals, have become an increasingly visible part of London’s housing market as rents continue to climb and developers look for new ways to deliver homes on smaller sites.
The sector has attracted both enthusiasm, for delivering new homes and community-focused amenities, and scrutiny, with critics questioning whether co-living rooms deliver enough living space and genuinely affordable options for renters. The inclusion of 44 affordable homes within the Fish Island scheme is likely to feature in discussions around the project’s contribution to local housing need.
The planning permission marks another step in the delivery of new homes in Tower Hamlets, one of the capital’s most densely developed boroughs, where pressure on housing supply remains acute. What happens next will depend on McLaren Living’s build-out timetable, which the company has yet to announce in detail.
