ASF Group Ltd and the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (LBBD) announced a partnership that will be dedicated to the development of a multi-billion dollar major infrastructure project in London.
The project will be located in the Castle Green area, and involve building a new neighbourhood on top of the A13 – London’s vital eastern link to the M25 motorway.
The LBBD said the plan is to build a tunnel for a 1.3km stretch of the A13 between the Lodge Avenue and Goresbrook interchanges, which would act as a catalyst for regeneration, releasing land for homes and creating space for parks and high quality industrial and commercial uses including a new London Overground station.
With a gross development value of around $9 billion, the project would include 15,000 new residential dwellings, rerouting of the A13 trunk road and creating commercial buildings of 3,700,000 square feet which will create an estimated 8,000 employment opportunities.
“Given the potential scale of the regeneration, we see this as an immensely exciting opportunity, not just for ASF, but for Barking, London and the UK," ASF Chairman Min Yang said.
“We are seeing strong interest from our Chinese investors in the potential of the project. Our strategic partners bring with them a wealth and unrivalled depth of expertise, from concept design to construction, marketing and sales."It is estimated that the plan could create a net additional Gross Value Add of £800 million over 60 years.
By eliminating bottlenecks at the Lodge Avenue and Renwick Road junctions, the plan would ease congestion and reduce noise and pollution while also reducing journey times for the users of the busy road.
It would join up communities divided by the road and new bus routes, walkways and cycle paths are all planned to improve north-south travel across the A13.
The tunnel is expected to have considerable benefits to the capital and the Thames Gateway region and the proposal enjoys widespread support from business and political figures across east London.
A blueprint for the project, which has been costed and developed with Transport for London, is now being actively considered by central government, whose support is required before the scheme can go ahead.
