The London Legacy Development Corporation has voted unanimously to approve an outline ‘masterplan’ for a rail freight campus and last-mile logistics hub in east London.
The plan will see the regeneration of more than thirty acres of brownfield land at Bow Goods Yard, the last piece of land left by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.
This is the first time that Network Rail Property has made an independent planning submission.
The Bow Goods Yard plan, which was launched last year, includes creating up to three million square feet of floorspace, for both heavy and light industrial work.
It will be able to take up to ninety thousand HGV movements a year away from the national road network, so it will cut congestion and emissions.
Network Rail believes that it has the potential to become a new centralised hub and to help London to become a centre for green freight.
Rail freight contributes two and a half billion pounds to Britain’s economy, with hubs such as Bow Goods Yard providing capacity that will be essential to expanding sustainable freight as businesses switch to rail.
Bow Goods Yard // Credit: Network Rail
Key Facts
Up to 190,000m² floor space
up to 61,000m² storage and distribution
up to 21,000m² office space
up to 46,000m² workspace
Concrete Batching plants, Freight Aggregate and Open Storage
up to 36,000m² leisure uses
up to 5,000m² commercial food and beverage offers
up to 5,000 new jobs (the site currently supports around one hundred jobs);
up to 3.5 million tonnes of construction material transported by rail from the site
up to 8,200m² of new publicly accessible public realm
minimum 10% biodiversity net gain
maximised roof area for PVs with an aspiration to achieve 4GWh/y of renewable energy production
sustainable water management
Artist impression of Bow Goods Yard’s Red Rose Lane // Credit: Network Rail
“Transforming this strategically underutilised freight site into the largest industrial and logistics campus that serves the whole of East London is central to expanding rail freight capacity and supporting the capital’s logistics market.
“The approval of this masterplan submitted by Network Rail Property is a major milestone in repositioning the property business. It marks our ambition to drive growth and investment across our brownfield estate, taking the lead on complex projects to ensure we deliver the widest mix of commercial and social opportunities. By working closely with local communities and businesses, we are ensuring sites like Bow Goods Yard will support the local area for generations to come.”
Robin Dobson, Group Property Director at Network Rail
Hundreds of HGV-based freight and high-value lightweight goods (Amazon-type parcels, etc.) logistics and distribution facilities already exist alongside or in close proximity to existing main line railways. National government policy should be urgently changed to promote a rapid shift away from HGV transport of goods, removing hundreds of millions of polluting and infrastructure-damaging lorry miles from the roads annually, also reducing the constant lobbying by vested interests for more road-building and destruction of precious ecology.
You might prefer it, but many don’t. We can estimate an acre – just over 200 foot square – but it’s less easy to judge a hectare. They are far from obsolete.
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Hundreds of HGV-based freight and high-value lightweight goods (Amazon-type parcels, etc.) logistics and distribution facilities already exist alongside or in close proximity to existing main line railways. National government policy should be urgently changed to promote a rapid shift away from HGV transport of goods, removing hundreds of millions of polluting and infrastructure-damaging lorry miles from the roads annually, also reducing the constant lobbying by vested interests for more road-building and destruction of precious ecology.
Radlett too.
Things progress.
That’s excellent news.
I’d prefer if you would use hectares rather than the obsolete acres in your reports though.
Regards
John.
You might prefer it, but many don’t. We can estimate an acre – just over 200 foot square – but it’s less easy to judge a hectare. They are far from obsolete.
Great to hear this development has been given the green light to go ahead and secure rail freight traffic for the future.