Its joint venture with Lendlease is the first time that Daiwa House has been involved in the development and sale of new homes in the United Kingdom.

Lendlease will develop and construct the new homes, which have an end value of £250m and retain a 25 per cent interest in the project, which will be the final stage of residential development at Elephant Park.

Both firms previously partnered on the delivery of a 41-storey mixed use building in Manhattan, and recently began work on a build-to-rent apartment development in Melbourne.

Lendlease’s European chief executive, Andrea Ruckstuhl, said: “This deal is a significant vote of confidence in the property market in the United Kingdom. We’re very pleased to be able to bring Japanese investment here and it’s another illustration of the desire that international investors have for high quality opportunities across our global pipeline of projects.”

Residents of the new buildings will be able to enjoy a communal gym, elevated garden, SkyLounge, 24-hour concierge service and cycle storage. Residents are expected to be able to move in from mid-2026.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of Daiwa House, Mr. Keiichi Yoshii, said: “I am very excited right now. This is because this is Daiwa House’s first project in the UK. We would like to thank everyone involved, including Lendlease, for giving us this opportunity.”

London development manager Avanton with partner investor Canada Israel gained planning for the 515-home tower at the regeneration of site formerly known as Wembley Point, moments from Stonebridge Park train station.

Designed by architects Patel Taylor, Stonebridge Place promises to redefine the Brent skyline.

The development consists of three distinct buildings, with the 32-storey tower, at its heart finished with a galls and terracotta facade.

A second stepped building will rise from 10 to 20 storeys, alongside a third building of three stories that will house a boxing gym and a public café.

Upon its completion in 2027, this tower will stand as the tallest building in Brent.

Gil Selzer, UK Managing Director of Canada Israel, said: “We are thrilled to continue expanding our London portfolio with the introduction of Stonebridge Place.

“Building on the incredible success of WEM Tower, this new development reaffirms our commitment to delivering a stylish residential experience for young adults in London.”

The Bromley by Bow Gasworks site in east London comprises seven disused Grade II listed gasholders.

Under plans drawn up by architect RSHP, these will be restored to incorporate many of the new homes within the cast iron structures.

The remaining homes will be built in higher rise surrounding cylindrical buildings echoing the gas holder homes.

St William’s ambitious scheme will involve a hefty upfront investment with the cost of temporary disassembly and restoration of the seven listed gasholders put at £80m alone.

This is before largely unquantifiable decontamination, enabling and ground remediation costs on the 9 hectare site.

Structural steel engineering specialists Craddys and Shepley have been closely involved in drawing up plans to reuse the cast iron gas holder structures, built between 1870 and 1882 for a cost of £300,000.

Both firms were previously involved in the project to dismantle, refurbish and re-erect the Gasholder No.8 guide frame at Kings Cross as well as the refurbishment and re-erection of the Kings Cross Triplets Gasholders.

St William has submitted a hybrid planning application for the site, which also include the remains of two gas holders destroyed by the Luftwaffe in the second World War.

These will turned into a central circular lake and a community space covered with one of the gas holder iron frames.

The proposed new neighbourhood will provide over 2,500 homes, of which at least 500 will be affordable, plus two parks and a local high street with a reinstated, historic canal basin at its heart.

Plans also include over 90,000 sq ft of shops, cafes and restaurants as well as a new 130,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s Supermarket.

The 19-acre site is one of the largest remaining brownfield sites in Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. A large proportion of the site has been closed off to the public for over 40 years as a former gasworks site.

The former gas works site on the Grand Union Canal has most recently been occupied by a scrap metal processing facility

If planning is successful, the 11-year construction programme is estimated to start in 2025. The first homes will be delivered in 2030, along with the new Sainsbury’s store and the neighbourhood centre around the restored canal basin.

New Sainsbury’s Store will be the gateway to the Kensal Canalside scheme

Architect FaulknerBrowns has shaped the masterplan over the last three years, in close consultation with the local community.

Two public parks and inclusive play spaces form part of the proposals.

A comprehensive sustainability strategy aims to maximise renewable generation and green infrastructure to produce zero emissions on site.

John Mulryan, Group Managing Director, Ballymore, said: “Kensal Canalside is one of the last remaining major brownfield sites to be developed in London and the largest in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

“The scale and location of the site – in one of London’s 48 Opportunity Areas – presents a real opportunity to create a thoughtfully designed, accessible and sustainable canalside neighbourhood with strong transport links.

This morning the house builder revealed it had aside around £31m to remediate what was described as an isolated design issue with the unnamed Greenwich building’s reinforced concrete frame.

The firm said it intended to seek recoveries from the firms involved in the scheme.

Bellway said it was carrying out a review of other buildings constructed by the same third parties responsible for the design of the frame. 

And to date, no other similar design issues with reinforced concrete frames have been unearthed. 

The latest problem building takes the amount Bellway has set aside for legacy buildings in England, Scotland and Wales since 2017 to £613m.

On this sum, there is still a remaining provision of £508m to be drawn down.

The firm is now ramping up legacy building retrofit works after signing the Government’s self-remediation contract.

In the present year ahead, Bellway expects to spend up to £80m on building safety works compared with £33m in 2022.

Bellway’s dedicated Building Safety division has so far completed nine developments.

Further works are underway on a dozen other schemes and works are due to commence on a further two developments before the end of this year.

The latest legacy job problem was revealed as the volume house builder revealed underlying pre-tax profit for the year to July 2023 had slipped 18% to £533m on revenue down just 4% to £3.4bn.

Despite the present market challenges, Bellway remained resilient with completions sliding by just 2% to 10,945 homes.

Underlying operating margin dipped to 16% (2022 – 18.5%), with the reduction mainly reflecting the effect of build cost and overhead inflation, extended site durations because of slower reservation rates and the increased use of targeted selling incentives.

The firm said it would now be delivering more timber frame homes going forward at it sought to contain cost inflation.

Despite the resilient performance Bellway finance director Keith Adey confirmed a round of job cuts with 150 roles going from the 3,000 strong workforce.

Adey said: “Given the uncertain outlook, we have conducted a review of overheads during the year and continued with a freeze on recruitment. 

“Two operating divisions have also been closed as part of our wider workforce planning, and it is anticipated that this difficult decision will result in a headcount reduction across the group of around 5%.”

The plans for Zone G, located off Redriff Road and across a portion of the Surrey Quays Leisure Park, is designed by architect Maccreanor Lavington.

There will be five residential buildings delivering a 42% affordable provision.

Main residential tower next to new park

The new park will be located across a portion of Surrey Quays Leisure Park and part of the car park of the former Printworks building.

Architects Townshend designed the park which also includes a café pavilion and an adventure play space.

The pavilion building was designed by Peckham-based design studio Feix & Merlin, and the play space has been conceived by internationally renowned Dutch studio Carve.

Tesco supermarket with underground parking

Phil Tait, Director of Development for Canada Water at British Land said: “The vision for Canada Water is to deliver a new town centre, connected with the local community; a place where everyone living, working, and studying in the local area truly belongs and can access the opportunities that it will bring, sharing in its success.

“Zone G and the park will bring new green space for all to enjoy, along with homes, shops, cafés and public amenities that will all add to what Canada Water has to offer.”