London developer Great Portland Estates is planning to deliver its largest ever pipeline of work with spending on schemes set to top £500m.

In half year trading results, the developer said it had now started nine projects amounting to 853,200 sq ft, or a quarter of its total property assets.

GPE also plans to start two West End schemes in the next 24 months at Oxford House, W1 for Facebook and a 224,000 sq ft Crossrail over-station scheme at Hanover Square, W1.

Beyond that, its pipeline includes a further dozen projects, taking the total development programme to 2.5m sq ft. This could take planned investment on building to £513m.

In the last six months GPE has committed to delivering 148 Old Street, EC1,  a major refurbishment of a 97,800 sq ft former Post Office building to create around 156,900 sq ft of offices. Strip out of the building has commenced  for completion in September 2017.

148 Old Street will be stripped back to its structural frame and fitted with new facades of glazed white and engineering brick.

In September, GPE received planning permission at Tasman House, 59/63 Wells Street, W1, to replace a tired 1950′s building with 37,300 sq ft of new office and retail space. The strip out of the building is complete and demolition has commenced with the scheme due for completion in October 2017.

The developer’s committed programme also includes: 90/92 Great Portland Street, W1, which contains the offsite residential offset for Hanover Square, W1;  84/86 Great Portland Street, W1; a 23,100 sq ft mixed-use scheme which contains the offsite residential offset for Tasman House, W1; and 48/50 Broadwick Street, W1, the residential offset for 73/89 Oxford Street, W1.

British Land has appointed former Argent chief executive Roger Madelin to lead the development of its 46-acre Canada Water site in London.

Madelin, who led Argent’s King’s Cross development team, will join the developer in February and also sit on British Land’s executive committee.

British Land has been steadily assembling parcels of land at Canada Water in south east London and now has potential for around 5.5m sq ft of office, retail, residential, leisure, educational and community space.

The major, long term project will be delivered in several phases to deliver a mixed-use town centre development.

Canada Water

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British Land is currently working with the London Borough of Southwark and local communities to deliver the Canada Water Masterplan and expects to submit a planning application by the end of next year.

Chris Grigg, chief executive, said: “Roger Madelin is a highly experienced developer and brings enormous experience of delivering major mixed-use developments.

“Placemaking lies at the heart of what we do and I look forward to working with Roger to create a vibrant new destination for London that caters for a wide range of modern needs.”

Madelin, said: “The combination of the physical opportunity at Canada Water, working with British Land and with the thoughtful and ambitious London Borough of Southwark was an opportunity too exciting to turn down.

“I have had an amazing 29 years at Argent. The completion of the last phases of King’s Cross are in talented and safe hands.”

A planning framework to deliver more than 25,500 new homes at Old Oak and Park Royal in West London has been approved by Mayor Boris Johnson.

Old Oak is set to become a transport hub with both a High Speed 2 and Crossrail Station opened by 2026, offering vast development potential for the area.

The Mayor believes the site could create tens of thousands of new homes and provide almost 14% of Greater London’s employment needs up to 2031, with early estimates of a £7bn annual contribution to the UK economy.

The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation was launched in April and will drive the planning and regeneration of the site that straddles the London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent and Ealing.

Earlier this year, the Mayor published an Opportunity Area Planning Framework for consultation, which sets out his long-term vision for the area. Following the conclusion of that consultation, the Mayor has now approved the document which sets the strategic planning direction for the area.

Sir Edward Lister, deputy mayor for planning and chairman of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, said: “London urgently needs new homes and commercial space to meet its ever growing population and there can be no doubt that the regeneration of Old Oak represents a real opportunity to meet those needs.

“This strategy will mean we can plan for the future of this vast site as we work to create a new, thriving and sustainable part of the capital, where people will love to live, work, play and visit.”

Chancellor George Osborne will today launch the National Infrastructure Commission and promise to stick to his pledge to spend £100bn in this Parliament for new roads, rail, flood defences and other vital projects.

He will set out plans to ‘get Britain building’, saying that infrastructure will be at the heart of next month’s Spending Review.

In the review, the Chancellor will set out plans to raise billions of pounds from a suite of asset sales that will be ploughed back into infrastructure projects.

Later today in York, Osborne will also confirm the seven commissioners who will help former Cabinet minister Lord Adonis run the independent National Infrastructure Commission.

The line-up includes Lord Heseltine and experienced industry bigwig, Sir John Armitt, who backed the formation of the commission in a Labour policy document before the last election.

The Chancellor said: “I am determined to shake Britain out of its inertia on infrastructure and end the situation where we trail our rivals when it comes to building everything from the housing to the power stations that our children will need.

“At the Spending Review, I will commit to investing £100bn in infrastructure over the next five years and we are creating an independent commission to give us a long-term, unbiased analysis of the country’s major infrastructure needs.

“We need to think long-term and deliver a cross-party consensus on what we need to build.”

The commission will produce a report at the start of each five-year Parliament, offering recommendations for priority infrastructure projects and  hold governments to account for their delivery.

Its initial focus will be in three key areas.  These include  identifying priorities for future investment in the North’s strategic transport infrastructure to improve connectivity between cities, especially east-west across the Pennines.

London’s transport system, particularly reviewing strategic options and identifying priorities for future investment in large scale transport improvements – on road, rail and underground – including Crossrail 2.

Energy, particularly exploring how the UK can better balance supply and demand, aiming for an energy market where prices are reflective of costs to the overall system

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Developers Guildhouse UK and Rosepride Properties have signed up a Chinese contractor to deliver plans for a 200m-plus residential tower close to the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon.

It marks the latest in a series of major deals to be unveiled during the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit this week.

The China Building Technique Group Company brings a strong reputation in high-rise buildings, which is one of the key reasons it was selected to work on the design and engineering consultation for One Lansdowne Road tower.

Earlier plans for a 55-storey tower and accompanying 15-storey block, which were to have contained offices, a hotel and flats, have been redrafted.

The latest plan, which is understood to have involved consultations with CBTGC, will comprise of a dual tower block rising to 57 floors and 35 floors, now containing 900 homes.

If this more ambitious project gains planning, it would be one of the tallest residential buildings in the country at over 200m.

Founded in 1987, China Building Technique Group Company is a subsidiary of the China Academy of Building Research, the largest R&D organisation in China’s building industry.

Wang Wei, leader of CBTGC’s UK team, said: “Through the cooperation with local government and developers in the new Croydon project, CBTGC can bring its technical expertise in building industry to the UK.

David Hudson, chief executive of developer Guildhouse UK, said: “In the UK, the high-rise is a fairly new phenomenon, and many people are sceptical about whether Croydon can finish such as magnificent project.”

“But with a partner like CBTGC, we know it is deliverable. CBTGC has already contributed a lot to the building, making it more efficient.”

Mark Waterstone of Rosepride, said: “As a local developer who has worked in Croydon for many years, it gives me great pride to bring forward a scheme of such ambition and promise. I am delighted we have teamed up with CGTGC and I am extremely confident that we will deliver one of the most iconic landmarks to London.”

Earlier this week another Chinese contractor Citic Construction signed a deal with developer ABP to turn the Royal Albert Dock into London’s next business district, aimed at Chinese companies looking to open UK headquarters. The 4.7m sq ft scheme is expected to cost around £1.7bn to deliver.

Equipment hire specialist Hewden has taken a peak into the future of construction to predict how the industry will look in 2045.

The report envisages a world of 30km tall buildings with spaceports, driverless vehicles and mini-cities in the sky while site workers will have super-strength exoskeletons creating half-man, half-machine operatives that can utilise a range of attachments.

Hewden’s 2045: Constructing the Future report has been developed by renowned futurologist Ian Pearson and was launched today to coincide with the date Marty McFly and Dr Emmett Brown time-travelled to in the ‘80s blockbuster movie, Back to the Future II.

The report takes a look at what the UK might look like in another 30 years, covering areas such as building design, transport, technology and health and safety.

Pearson said: “While we’re not all flying around in cars, there are a number of things, such as the use of drones, video conferencing and some of the physical structures that were portrayed very accurately in the movie.

“The acceleration of new technology has and will continue to be the biggest driver for change. As will look forward another 30 years we can expect to see a very different but exciting world.”

Some of the key findings of the report include:

The London Skyline in 2045 will have super-tall structures and a spaceport

In 2045 driverless vehicles will be the norm.  Unlike the more futuristic curved look, vehicles will likely be box shaped to maximise on-street capacity.

Builders will have super-strength exoskeletons creating half-man, half-machine workers that can utilise a range of attachments.

Pearson added: “Augmented reality will play a major role in the aesthetics of a building.

“It’s likely that many buildings will actually be very plain, instead using AR to create visually appealing environments for those that visit.”

Heavily populated cities such as London are likely to change the most, according to the report, with space travel and development of new cities within cities some of the major changes.

Pearson said: “The use of super-strong carbon-based materials will enable us to build incredibly tall structures, some even up to 30km high.

“This will make space travel more convenient and for major transport hubs like London, going into space will be a regular occurrence in 2045.

“A few of these structures may be so large that their capacity enables them to function as small cities in their own right, with all the usual city functions mixed within the same building,.”

Irvine Sellar’s property company has unveiled plans to transform Paddington in West London with a £1bn mixed-used scheme.

The focal point of the plan will be a slender 65-storey tower of flats and offices, already dubbed the ‘skinny Shard’ after the property tycoon’s landmark skyscraper at London Bridge.

The 224m cylindrical tower would be the fourth tallest building in the capital, equalling in height the Cheesegrater.

Sellar said: “We believe this exciting proposal will tap into the potential of Paddington and will prove to be a major catalyst for the continuing enhancement of the area, especially Praed Street – in much the same way that The Shard did for London Bridge.

“This site shares much of the same DNA with its proximity to a major transport hub with tube, railway lines and bus routes, a neighbouring leading teaching hospital and the potential to provide much needed quality public realm.”

A planning application will be submitted to Westminster Council next month and if all goes to plan construction could start late next year at the site of the former Royal Mail office next to the railway station.

As well as 150,000 sq ft of offices and 200 luxury flats the scheme known as 31 London Street, will boast restaurants on the 60th-62nd floors with a public roof garden.

Architect Renzo Piano designed the building, which is being backed by Singapore’s Hotel Properties.

Chris Lim, group executive director of Hotel Properties, said: “By partnering with Sellar Property Group on this truly transformational project, we are committed to playing our part in revitalising the area.

Proposed retail and transport hub beneath public realm

New public realm and ‘gateway’ to Paddington Station