On the 26th of November, a small group of housing stakeholders and LSE London researchers visited the Ailsa Street site in Tower Hamlets to learn more about how one borough is overcoming barriers to increasing housing supply

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11/07/2017 Profile: Ailsa Street, Tower Hamlets | Accelerating housing production in Londonhttp://lselondonhousing.org/2014/11/profile-ailsa-street-tower-hamlets/ 1/6Researchers and housing stakeholders discussingbarriers to development at the Ailsa Street site  Leave a Comment  Posted on November 26, 2014 by lselondonProfile: Ailsa Street, TowerHamletsOn the 26th of November,a small group of housingstakeholders and LSELondon researchersvisited the Ailsa Streetsite in Tower Hamlets tolearn more about howone borough isovercoming barriers toincreasing housing supply.The site visit offered a chance to continue the discussion started at our 29thOctober workshop. David Williams, Deputy Service Head of Planning & BuildingControl at Tower Hamlets, and a team from the council’s planning department andLeaside Regeneration prepared an informative presentation and tour thatilluminated the history of the site, the inherent complexities of developing the areaand innovative ideas that are being suggested by the council to stimulate newdevelopment.This site visit provided a chance to discuss speci c barriers to bringing forwardland for development as well as innovative strategies for overcoming them:Complicated land ownership pattern Sections of the Ailsa Street site are owned by 13 different landowners.HOME INTERACTIVE MAP THEMES ABOUT EVENTS MEDIA PUBLICATIONS11/07/2017 Profile: Ailsa Street, Tower Hamlets | Accelerating housing production in Londonhttp://lselondonhousing.org/2014/11/profile-ailsa-street-tower-hamlets/ 2/6Gasworks and new development bordering the AilsaStreet siteCoordinating interests andvisions for development ofthe area is thereforeimmensely dif cult.Participants at our 29thOctober workshop agreedthat complicated landownership patterns presenta signi cant barrier todevelopment on sitesacross London. The use ofCompulsory PurchaseOrders (CPOs) may helplocal authorities facilitate development in areas of complex land ownership, butcouncils try not to use them if possible, preferring to employ other strategies,such as master planning, to try to encourage multiple land owners to worktogether. Exploring strategies for overcoming the challenges of complex landownership should therefore be a focus of further research, and sites acrossLondon where development has moved forward despite this barrier (such as atMillbrook Park in Barnet) should be studied to illuminate ways for moving past thisissue.Remediation of land The Ailsa Street site requires a great deal of remediation before construction ofnew housing or facilities can begin. These processes are expensive, and thecomplex pattern of land ownership in the area further complicates thecoordination needed to remediate the entire site. The borough has applied forHousing Zone funding in order to  nance this work, and grant systems like thismay represent a crucial resource for cleaning up sites with high potential yet highremediation costs. Accessibility The area bene ts from key geographical assets: it includes substantial riverfront(on the Newham side of the river, this frontage has already been developed intoappealing public realm) and it is relatively close to employment hubs such as theCity and Canary Wharf. A variety of local schools would be accessible to future11/07/2017 Profile: Ailsa Street, Tower Hamlets | Accelerating housing production in Londonhttp://lselondonhousing.org/2014/11/profile-ailsa-street-tower-hamlets/ 3/6The group sees inside the Grade II listed building thatwill be converted into a primary schoolresidents, and the site itselfincludes a Grade II listedformer pupil referral unitbuilding, which the councilintends to up-grade into aprimary school. Whilstdistinctive heritagearchitecture can be an asset todevelopment, adding characterand value (Holman and Ahlfeldt,2012), it can also furthercomplicate the manner inwhich sites can be broughtforward as listed buildings must be sensitively treated and adapted for modernpurposes.Despite these assets, one of Ailsa Street’s biggest challenges is accessibility as it isbordered to the west by the busy four-lane A12 and to the east by the river which,at present, cannot be crossed on foot or by car. Currently, the PTAL score for thearea is only 2, which TfL categorises as ‘poor’. Consequently, to make the site viablefor large-scale residential development would require substantial investment intransport and accessibility improvements.The potential of master planning Because residential development in the borough is occurring so rapidly, thecouncil feels strongly that master planning can help bring investment even tolong-neglected areas like Ailsa Street. Additionally, since the rapid development ofother areas has arguably limited the opportunities for quality ‘place making’,master planning can ensure that important considerations such as green spaces,accessibility and density are carefully considered at the outset. Interestingly, theAilsa Street area has been subject to numerous plans over recent decades but noneof the previous strategies have effectively been able to ‘crack’ the site as they,arguably, did not effectively address the multiple challenges present here: groundcontamination, access issues, listed buildings and the presence of multiple landowners. The hope of the council is that this latest master planning strategycombined with innovative funding mechanisms including the Housing Zones bidwill unlock the site’s potential and, by addressing major barriers like accessibilityand remediation head-on, bring development forward.11/07/2017 Profile: Ailsa Street, Tower Hamlets | Accelerating housing production in Londonhttp://lselondonhousing.org/2014/11/profile-ailsa-street-tower-hamlets/ 4/6The group visits an old car storage site in need ofremediationMaster planning in acomplex site like thiswhich has had a diversityof former and currentuses requires areimagination of theexisting geography. Thevarious barriers presentat the Ailsa Street site canmake it dif cult toenvision how futuredevelopment might lookor function, and masterplanning therefore offers a chance to produce and promote a common vision forthe area. Additionally, the master planning approach in the eyes of the councilgoes beyond “blueprinting” change and includes the potential of it to facilitatepartnership working, pulling together stakeholders, the local authority anddevelopers to affect change. The plans for developing the Ailsa Street signs canalso tap into the development momentum around Stratford and the formerOlympic Site, areas where innovative master planning have guided large-scaleredevelopment. Visualisation mechanisms The Tower Hamlets planning team has developed an excellent tool, using GIStechnology, to help stakeholders visualise both the impact and reality of newdevelopment as well as challenges such as access, light, noise and spaceconstraints. Such new technologies can help both to improve decisions and toallow stakeholders to communicate more effectively with one another to buildconsent, as the dif culty of communicating spatial ideas during lengthy, complexnegotiation processes can be an important issue in accelerating development. Weknow from older more basic hands-on technologies of visualisation like the WalterSegal self-build tool (see image 5) that even the most rudimentary abstractiontechniques can be very useful in creating greater understanding what developinghomes on a particular site may look like and imply.11/07/2017 Profile: Ailsa Street, Tower Hamlets | Accelerating housing production in Londonhttp://lselondonhousing.org/2014/11/profile-ailsa-street-tower-hamlets/ 5/6Contact us:Twitter - @LSE_LondonThe 3D modelling technology being used atTower Hamlets← Planning and housing – why the continuing tensions? Pro le: Millbrook Park, Barnet →The build-modelling method used by SouthLondon homes       For more information on this site visit or if you have a site that you think illustratesthe complexities and opportunities for accelerating residential development inLondon, please contact Dr. Nancy Holman at N.E.Holman@lse.ac.uk.   Category: New Housing and the London Plan, Recent News, Site Visits11/07/2017 Profile: Ailsa Street, Tower Hamlets | Accelerating housing production in Londonhttp://lselondonhousing.org/2014/11/profile-ailsa-street-tower-hamlets/ 6/6Facebook - LSELondonGeographiesYouTube - LSE LondonEmail - lselondon@lse.ac.ukLogos and map designed by Alessandra Mossa. Website designed by Marshall Bradley.Copyright © 2017 · All Rights Reserved · Accelerating housing production in London

Profile: Ailsa Street, Tower Hamlets

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