Barking Riverside Masterplan
Core idea
Housing-led regeneration on former power station land
Why it matters
One of the UK’s largest housing schemes tied to Overground extension
Description
The Barking Riverside masterplan guides the redevelopment of the former Barking Power Station lands on the Thames in east London into a new district of more than ten thousand homes with schools, a district centre and riverside open space. Developed through a joint venture involving the Greater London Authority, with masterplanning by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, the scheme was deliberately tied to the extension of the London Overground, which opened a new station serving the site in 2022.
Significance
Barking Riverside is one of the largest housing-led regeneration projects in the United Kingdom and a prominent test of the principle that large peripheral brownfield sites should only be built out once rail access is secured. Earlier phases built without transport links had stagnated, so the Overground deal became a frequently cited precedent for infrastructure-first regeneration in London planning debates. It also figures in discussions of healthy-town design and of how to build at scale on contaminated post-industrial riverfront land.
What shaped it
- The linear park / greenway (1878 / 2009 revival)
- Sustainable development (Brundtland) (1987)
- Land-value capture and betterment (developed from the early 20th century)
- Transit-oriented development (TOD) (1993)
Sources
- https://lds-uk.com/projects/infrastructure/barking-riverside/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifschutz_Davidson_Sandilands