Taylor Wimpey to build legacy neighbourhoods at Olympic Park

Kay Atwal, Chief Reporter Friday, August 17, 2012
7:00 AM

The Legacy Corporation has appointed Taylor Wimpey and L&Q to build the first of five neighbourhoods on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Chobham Manor will see a return to London’s traditional family neighbourhoods of terraced and mews houses, set within tree-lined avenues and supported by a new health centre, nurseries and community spaces.

Sitting between the Athletes’ Village and the Lee Valley VeloPark (where the Basketball Arena is), Chobham Manor will help to address the local need for larger homes, with more than 75 per cent of the 870 homes offering family housing. It will reuse infrastructure built for the Olympics such as the heating and telecoms networks, and fibre optic broadband.

The appointment is the second major housing milestone in as many months for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Last month the Legacy Corporation also secured outline planning approval to build 6,800 homes across five new neighbourhoods including Chobham Manor.

The appointment means that construction work on Chobham Manor can begin in October once the Legacy Corporation takes operational control of the Park. It aims to have first homes ready by the end of 2014.

Daniel Moylan, Chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation, said: “We are delighted to have appointed Taylor Wimpey and L&Q as developers to build Chobham Manor. The calibre of bidders was very high and testament to the commercial pull of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

“Chobham Manor will set the tone for the high quality neighbourhoods we want to create across the Park with new schools, health centres and community spaces to support them.”

Pete Redfern, Group Chief Executive of Taylor Wimpey plc, said: “Chobham Manor will see us work with LLDC and L&Q to create a brand new community, providing east London with much needed family homes, facilities and supporting infrastructure.”