1. News
16 Wednesday June 5, 2013
£1bn deal looks set to create a
An artist’s impression of the business quarter planned at Royal Albert Dock
A new East West gateway holds out the
promise of 20,000 new jobs in borough
A £1bn deal to generate tens of thou-
sands of jobs in the East End has been
signed.
Docklands is set to become a ‘mini
Hong Kong’ and the capital’s third fi-
nancial quarter, after the City and Ca-
nary Wharf, forging links with Asia.
Owned by the Greater London Au-
thority, the 35-acre site at Royal Albert
Dock will be transformed by commer-
cial developer ABP Chinese (Holding)
into a gateway for Asian and Chinese
business seeking to establish headquar-
ters in Europe, along with other compa-
nies wanting to set up in the capital.
The likes of government minister
Eric Pickles were at the signing last
week along with Newham Mayor Sir
Robin Wales as London Mayor Boris
Johnson and ABP chairman Xu Weip-
ing signed on the dotted line and ex-
changed gifts.
Situated directly opposite London
City Airport, the business park is ex-
pected to act as a platform for financial,
high-tech and knowledge-driven indus-
tries.
The deal represents one of the first
direct investments by a Chinese devel-
oper in London’s property market.
It is expected to deliver 20,000 full-
time jobs and boost local employment
in Newham by 30 per cent.
Catalyst
It is believed to be worth £6bn to the
UK economy, generating £23m in busi-
ness rates annually and acting as a
catalyst for further development in the
area.
The area will become home to more
than 3.2 million square feet of work,
retail and leisure space —with the first
occupiers due in 2017.
by Else Kvist
else.kvist@archant.co.uk
The deal is signed
Royal Docks timeline
The Royal Docks comprise three docks - Royal
Albert, Royal Victoria and King George V, which
were completed between 1855 and 1921.
Royal Victoria, which opened in 1855, was the
first dock built specifically for steam ships and the
first to be planned with direct rail links onto the
quay.
Royal Albert opened in 1880 and was equipped
with hydraulic cranes and steam winches to handle
vessels up to 12,000 tonnes.
King George V Dock was completed in 1921.
The General Strike of 1926 hit the Royal Docks hard
with 750,000 frozen carcasses threatened by the
docks’ electrical supply being cut off.
During the Second World War the docks suffered
severe bomb damage from the German Luftwaffe.
Despite the docks recovering from war damage,
they suffered a steady decline from the 1960s
onwards following the adoption of containerisation
and were closed to commercial traffic in 1981.
The docks’ closure led to high levels of
unemployment and social deprivation in the
surrounding communities of North Woolwich and
Silvertown.
The docks are now closed for commercial
shipping and their principal use today is water
sports, but naval and merchant vessels visit
occasionally.
The Royal Docks Vision and Strategy in 2010
aimed at developing the area as a world-class
business destination and building on opportunities
presented by the Olympics.
The Victoria and Albert docks were
constructed to provide berths for
large vessels that could not be
accommodated further upriver,
specialising in the import and
unloading of foodstuffs.
As refrigeration methods improved,
the docks started handling frozen
meat, fruit and vegetables.
Passenger cargoes also became
big business —King George V Dock
could berth some of the world’s
biggest liners.
The three docks collectively formed
the largest enclosed docks in the
world with a water area of nearly
250 acres (1km2) and an overall
estate of 1,100 acres (4.5km2)
—equivalent to the whole of central
London from Hyde Park to Tower
Bridge.
Today, the Royal Docks comprise
122 hectares of prime waterfront
land.
It’s a fact
Other major redevelopment projects in the Royal Docks
Transport:
London City Airport opened
in 1988.
An extension of the
Docklands Light Railway
opened in 1994 providing
direct links to the City and
Canary Wharf.
A DLR link to London City
Airport opened in December
2006 and the line was later
extended to Woolwich.
The UK’s first urban cable
car, Emirates Air Line, opened
last year.
Housing:
Eastern Quay Apartments,
built at a cost of £10.75m,
was completed in 2003 by
Morrisons. It sits next to
the site once earmarked
for Silvertown Quays – a
defunct regeneration project
intended to include Britain’s
first purpose-built national
aquarium and the failed London
Pleasure Gardens.
Capital East — a luxury
development of waterfront
apartments and penthouses.
Other developments:
Gallions Reach Shopping
Park —a 60-acre open-plan
site with more than 40 major
stores and restaurants.
The University of East
London Docklands Campus
opened in 1999.
ExCeL exhibition centre
opened in 2000.
Siemens Crystal Centre,
the world’s first dedicated to
improving knowledge of urban
sustainability, opened last year.
Plans to create the UK’s
largest floating village featuring
homes, hotels, offices, shops,
bars and restaurants on a site
under the Emirates Air Line
were unveiled earlier this year.

2. News
Comments on the £1bn deal
Wednesday June 5, 2013 17
‘mini Hong Kong’ in Newham
Copyright Jason Hawkes
London Mayor Boris Johnson
said: “For centuries the
waterways of east London were
the throbbing arteries of UK
trade and commerce. This deal
symbolises the revival of that
great era, continuing the re-
invention of this once-maligned
part of the capital into a 21st
century centre of trade and
investment.”
Mayor of Newham Sir Robin
Wales said: “The Royal Docks
Enterprise Zone offers an
unrivalled investment opportunity
and this deal further strengthens
Newham’s growing reputation
as an ideal destination for
international business.”
Chairman of ABP, Xu Weiping,
said: “My vision is to develop
a world-class international
business district which will
initially target Asian businesses
to help them secure a destination
in London, which in China is
seen as the gateway to both the
United Kingdom and the wider
European economy. Our plans
aim to strengthen trade between
east and west, provide new local
jobs and deliver benefits for the
wider London and UK economy.”
Chief executive of London
Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, Colin Stanbridge,
welcomed the deal and said:
“One of the main attractions
of the Royal Docks as an area
for investment is its proximity
to transport connections such
as London City Airport and
Crossrail, once it is opened.
Continued investment in east
London’s transport infrastructure
must therefore be seen as a
necessity if this part of the city
is going to continue to attract
these deals in future and that
investment should begin with a
new bridge at Gallions Reach.”
Boris Johnson Sir Robin Wales Xu Weiping Colin Stanbridge
Chinese links to East London go back to
Victorian times.
Limehouse was known as London’s
first Chinatown but, after the area was
destroyed by Second World War bomb-
ing, many Chinese relocated to the
present-day Chinatown around Soho.
In the 1880s Chinese men, exploited
by the crews of merchantmen in the opi-
um and tea trades, began to settle after
being paid off and finding themselves
stranded with no return passage.
Chinese restaurants and grocery
stores sprung up, along with laundry
houses where lime was used to clean
clothes. In many places opium was
smoked, giving rise to the invented no-
tion of Limehouse as a den where the
Chinese hung out to prey on unsuspect-
ing passers-by.
There were no Chinese women in the
early days and many Chinese men mar-
ried English women and a mixed race
generation grew up.
It’s not the first time Chinese
have settled in the East End
While this is its first project in Europe,
ABP is an experienced developer in
China.
The company recently completed
a 15 million square feet development
in Beijing, which is home to 50,000
employees. It consists of 400 large office
buildings, many more than 15 storeys,
and includes apartments, shops,
restaurants, leisure facilities and a hotel.
In Shenyang, the largest city in north-
eastern China, ABP has an even larger
project under way with more than 400
buildings. The development will be
75 million square feet when complete
— five times the size of the development
in Beijing.
The latest ABP project is in in the
Eastern coastal city of Quingdao, where
the company is said to be on track to
complete the first 100 of 300 office
buildings next year.
ABP London will work with UK
developer Stanhope and architect
Farrells to develop a minimum of
600,000 square feet in the first phase.
The first occupiers are due to move in in
2017.
Some of China’s top banks are said to
have shown an interest already.
Company profile
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