Welcome from Matt Carpen, Managing Director at Barking Riverside Ltd

Welcome to BRL’s first stakeholder newsletter. This is an opportunity for us to share some of our recent milestones as we ramp up the delivery of exciting new facilities on-site, whilst our plot developer partners, L&Q and Bellway Homes, continue to create new homes.

We’ve hit some major milestones over the summer thanks to the continued support from our shareholders L&Q and GLA driving delivery through investment in the project. With the BRL Board support we launched the opening of The Wilds at Barking Riverside, a multi-purpose ecology, community, and events space which was build by our L&Q partners in-house build team. We’re pleased with the progress made on our new pier for the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers service, which is now under construction. TfL and Morgan Sindall VolkerFitzpatrick have made continued advancements on the Barking Riverside London Overground station. Both the station and the pier are on course to open in 2022.

I am also happy to announce that our Land Team has been promoting land plots in Station Quarter to the market. Station Quarter, which is being marketed through CBRE, is the first phase of Barking Riverside’s district centre and presents the opportunity to deliver 900 homes adjacent to the new Overground station. The district centre will grow and evolve to become the centre for new resident amenities, cultural events, and commercial opportunities.

In the summer, our colleagues at Barking and Dagenham Council and Be First announced that the green light had been given for funding to build an innovative new £40m Wellbeing Hub at Barking Riverside. We have worked in partnership with the Council, the NHS, and a dedicated group of local people to shape this project. This facility will be amongst the most advanced of its kind – not only in how it provides healthcare, but also because of the pool offer, which will use state-of-the-art technology to provide one of the most unique swim experiences in London. The ambition is that this Hub becomes a major attraction for visitors from all over London.

Work is now underway on a new temporary Co-op store, which will complete the first phase of the Northgate neighbourhood. This is a temporary store due to remain in situ until the opening of a permanent Co-op just over the road, which is currently under construction by L&Q. We are really pleased to bring this amenity forward, and to see Northgate become an area that caters to the needs of residents.

We also continue our work with the Barking Riverside Learning Forum, a resident-led body formed in summer 2020. The Learning Forum is working through a process towards making recommendations regarding the future structure of the Barking Riverside Community Interest Company (CIC) – the body responsible for the legacy management of the estate. This will be an exciting new model for how estates are managed with residents at the centre of the decision making, working in partnership with BRL and L&Q. We look forward to telling you more about it in our next newsletter.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners, colleagues, and friends for their continued support over the past 18 months. We look forward to hopefully seeing many of you in person throughout 2022.