Gareth Blacker will serve as the OPDC’s executive director of delivery
The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation has appointed Homes England director Gareth Blacker to lead on delivering its planned 25,000 new homes.
Blacker will become the executive director of delivery at the development corporation, known as the OPDC, and will work with the government to unlock the major brownfield site of Old Oak West to create a new urban district.
The appointment of the current director of strategic development & infrastructure at Homes England is designed to step up delivery of the corporation’s plans.
Its comes after the OPDC, which announced three other appointments in December last year, adopted its local plan in June 2022 and was awarded £50m from the Mayor’s Land Fund, which aims to speed up the delivery of housing in the capital.
David Lunts, chief executive of OPDC, charged with the regeneration of the West London Old Oak Opportunity area, which spans across the London boroughs of Ealing, Brent and Hammersmith & Fulham, said Blacker’s appointment “comes just as we ramp up our focus from planning to delivery.”
“Gareth’s expertise in delivering complex major regeneration projects is unique and will be crucial in delivering our vision for a new urban district that captures the vast benefits of HS2 and the Elizabeth Line at Old Oak, with new and affordable homes and tens of thousands of jobs,” Lunts added.
Blacker has been at Homes England - and the body previous to that, the Homes and Communities Agency - for nearly 13-and-a-half years, and a chartered surveyor for more than 25 years.
Blacker said: “Old Oak and Park Royal is currently London’s most significant major regeneration project and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to be leading the team that will deliver it. Having worked closely with OPDC during my time at Homes England, I am excited to deliver the Mayor of London’s vision for Old Oak, in partnership with national and local government, to realise the transformational change we know is possible.”
At Homes England he worked across major UK regeneration schemes including Bristol Temple Meads and Silvertown Quays. He also led on the 2012 Olympics land assembly and legacy masterplan, Wembley Park, and London’s Royal Docks as well as securing significant infrastructure funding transactions including Wood Wharf, Greenwich Peninsula, and most recently Barking Riverside.
Blacker will also be responsible for delivering 56,000 new jobs in West London.
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