Welcome from Matt Carpen

Hello, and welcome to our first stakeholder newsletter of 2023 - and what a start it has been! It seems only yesterday that we sent our year end update and so much has happened since.

At the start of February, Barking Riverside Pier celebrated its 100,000th passenger journey following the pier opening in May 2022. To be able to achieve this milestone in under a year is fantastic and highlights how our enhanced transport links are putting Barking Riverside firmly on the map. To celebrate this landmark, we organised a Barking and Dagenham wide river bus ticket competition for residents and local workers - hopefully we can achieve the next 100,000th passenger journey even quicker!

Residential sales for Bellway and L&Q continue to perform positively. Bellway are seeing a healthy level of interest for their products, with more releases coming to the market in May. L&Q are also experiencing positive demand, with Barking Riverside positioned as their very top development based on the volume of sales leads.

It's also been a busy time for filming, and the eagle eyed of you may have caught some shots of Barking Riverside on screen recently. Both BBC drama 'The Gold' and Netflix crime thriller, 'Luther: The Fallen Sun' featured Barking Riverside. We are pleased to continue to see film production teams selecting Barking Riverside thanks to its unique riverside location and rich heritage.

Moving on to team announcements, I am delighted to welcome both Steve Moseley and Anna Casbolt to the board. They both bring a wealth of experience from the housing and financial industry, and I know they will be an incredibly valuable addition here. We have also welcomed Jason Wong as our new Operations Director, bringing with him over 35 years of experience in large scale projects. I am looking forward to closely working with Jason as we continue to deliver impactful infrastructure.

It wouldn't be Barking Riverside without events, and we've already hosted two this year - both with great success. The 'Low Carbon Chinatown Supperclub' celebrated Chinese New Year with a sustainability angle, whilst our Residents Events Panel created an after-work drinks concept for residents, with a pizza truck on hand to make sure guests were well fed.

Finally, I am incredibly proud of how our social impact work has been prioritised at the start of this year. Through Thames Futures, we've recently conducted workshops on key social impact themes where we want to work in partnership with residents to deliver real change. Also, I am pleased to say that we are now on the third round of applications for the BRL Community Fund, where, in partnership with the Barking Riverside Community Interest Company, we issue grants to help local people realise their projects. This is of great importance to me as it gives the chance for some truly brilliant ideas to come to life and benefit the community.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Steve, Anna and all our partners, colleagues and friends for their continued support through the beginning of 2023. We look forward to welcoming you to Barking Riverside in the future.