Barking & Dagenham’s devco to build hundreds of affordable homes

Be First, the development company set up by the London borough of Barking and Dagenham, has announced council approval has been given for two schemes which will deliver more than 600 homes.

Gasgoigne East, Be First

Councillors gave the green light to build 526 flats, 65% of which will be affordable, across 11 new buildings on the Gascoigne estate, a development in the centre of Barking.

The Gascoigne estate is being revamped over three phases and will eventually provide more than 1,500 homes and a new primary school.

Be First also said that plans had been approved to build 95 affordable homes in three new blocks will be provided for the council on the site of a derelict building in Upney.

Work on the Upney site is due to start in December this year.

And Weston Homes announced that proposals to build nearly 1,100 mixed tenure homes on land which formed the Abbey Retail Park in Barking, owned by the Estates & Agency Group, had been granted a resolution to grant planning.

The Abbey Quays scheme will have a gross development value of £350m and as well as the homes, which will be managed by Be First, the development will offer commercial and leisure space.

Full planning can be issued once the council and Weston Homes have thrashed out the terms of a Section 106 agreement.

Be First recently said it planned to build nearly 900 more homes than was first envisaged when the firm was set up two years ago.

Chaired by former head of the civil service Lord Bob Kerslake, Be First now aims to build 3,088 homes for the council, which is 880 (40%) more than it planned when created two years ago.