The average London apartment block now takes 8 years to build
Key Points
- Berkeley says it now takes at least eight years to complete an apartment building in London, up from five years ten years ago.
- A further 18 months is required where a scheme goes to appeal or is called in.
- Berkeley's plans for more than 850 homes in Peckham were blocked by the Planning Inspectorate after ten years of engagement.
- The developer says more homes are being lost to other uses in London than are being built.
It now takes at least eight years to deliver an apartment building in London, Berkeley Group has warned, up from five years a decade ago.
In its annual results, the developer set out the full sequence required to bring a single building forward in the capital, including:
- Acquisition;
- Planning;
- Agreement of Section 106 requirements;
- Consultation with statutory consultees;
- Clearance of pre-commencement conditions;
- Detailed design;
- Building Safety Regulator approval;
- Construction.
A further 18 months is required where a scheme goes to appeal or is called in.
Berkeley said there is no certainty that consent will be granted even at the end of that process.
It pointed to its scheme in Peckham, where the Planning Inspectorate determined that the Peckham Rye conservation area would suffer too much harm from new housing on the site of a run-down shopping centre.
The decision followed ten years of engagement on a site allocated for housing in the local plan, and blocked policy-compliant plans for more than 850 homes.
The company said its proposals to regenerate both Beckton Gasworks and Motspur Park Gasworks had also been blocked at the local level, and welcomed swift action by the Greater London Authority to call in the applications.
Berkeley warned that more homes are currently being lost to other uses in the capital than are being built, and said the delivery timeline needs to fall back from eight years to the five it took a decade ago.
That, the company said, requires recognition of an appropriate development return, equitable review mechanisms that incentivise development, and the removal of competing and layered policy requirements within the Section 106 process.
It also called for all regulators, including the Building Safety Regulator, to be properly resourced to meet statutory deadlines.
The warnings accompanied pre-tax profit of £451.4m for the year to 30 April, down 15%, with the company citing a market characterised by caution and a lack of urgency.
Berkeley delivered 4,203 homes over the year, 90% of them on brownfield land, and said its longer-term outlook for London remained compelling given the city’s status as a global financial centre and the structural undersupply of housing.
