Q&A

The site is brownfield, vacant and allocated by both the Council and the Mayor of London’s planning policies as Strategic Industrial Location (SIL). SIL allocations mean it is safeguarded for industrial, logistics and related uses which supports the functioning of London’s economy. SEGRO’s proposal is therefore coming forward in compliance with planning policy.

SEGRO has over 100 years’ experience in delivering and managing a wide range of industrial locations, and currently own and manage 55 estates across London, which are home to 350 businesses.

As we are still in the pre-planning stage our designs have flexibility in mind, but we think this site is most likely to attract companies that require light industrial space. These businesses could operate in sectors including, film/media production and storage, food/drink production, research and development, e-commerce and medical services/storage.

SEGRO prides itself on the delivery of highly sustainable developments to attract customers that share our vision. This is also reflected in our range of customers – we are confident that a development here would attract the most responsible businesses that prioritise the environment and employee wellbeing.

The warehouse ‘sawtooth’ element of the proposals has a maximum height of 16.7m.

These buildings will be slightly higher than the existing industrial buildings to the south, but they are also significantly lower in height than the residential buildings on the northern and eastern side of Wick Lane. More detail on the impact to specific views will be outlined in The Townscape and Landscape Visual Impact Assessment, which will accompany the submission of the planning application.

Since the exhibition we have removed the proposed balconies that formed part of our initial plans. Roof terraces will still be provided to offer amenity space, which we hope will improve staff wellbeing and also add some natural surveillance for the street.

We are mindful of protecting the privacy of residents around us and are confident that the generous separation distances – which exceed the 18m minimum required by planning policy - will create comfortable conditions for both residents and staff.

The Mayor of London’s New London Plan, and policies from the Council and the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) seeks to ensure employment uses within Strategic Industrial Locations (SILs) are not compromised in terms of their days and hours of operation. Whilst from our experience any evening use of urban warehouses are limited, our current proposal is in line with these local and regional planning policies.

SEGRO owns and manages many estates across London, including over 20 locations where our sites are located adjacent to residential developments. For these sites, and for Hackney Wick, the layouts seek to ensure residential amenity is protected by using the industrial buildings as acoustic barriers to mitigate noise and light deriving from the service yards, where most activity is concentrated.

Whilst the roundabout falls outside of SEGRO’s land ownership, we are aware that the London Borough of Tower Hamlets is developing a “Wick Lane Corridor” enhancement strategy which seeks to improve the on-street walking experience and cycling infrastructure - connecting existing cycle routes along Wick Lane (The Greenway and the cycleway over the A12).

We have been in discussion with the council about their plans, and our priority is to work with them to develop proposals for the site that are safe for all road users.

In addition we are proposing wider pavements – a minimum of 2.4m – which will improve safety and the overall experience for pedestrians and cyclists. The proposals will also improve pedestrian crossing facilities on Crown Close and Wick Lane with new refuge islands as well as a raised table at the Crown Close/Wick Lane junction.

Our modelling for Wick Lane, coupled with our wider London experience in managing locations such as this, points to the movement of larger goods vehicles being spread out over the typical working day, with a maximum of 1-3 additional vehicles during peak hours. Should our plans be submitted to the LLDC and secure planning permission, our studies have shown that the predicted operational vehicle demand will consist of a range of vehicles for the delivery of inbound and outbound goods, with trip estimates having been made using the TRICS database and surveys from similar warehouse developments in London. This approach follows best practice for transport assessments and has been agreed with transport experts from the LLDC and Tower Hamlets Council.

These vehicles will range between cycles/micro-vehicles/courier vans for local outbound goods deliveries and courier/panel vans/larger goods vehicles for the delivery of inbound goods.

Importantly, it is expected there would be just one additional large goods vehicle during night-time hours (11pm-7am) on Wick Lane, a road that already experiences 90 HGV vehicle movements throughout the night.

Put into context of existing movements of large goods vehicles on Wick Lane at night, this one additional trip represents an increase of just 0.02%-0.03%.

The nature of the businesses likely to occupy the units will rely on the major road network for the delivery of inbound and outbound goods. We envisage that the majority of large goods vehicles will be using the A12 and the southern end of Wick Lane to access the site. We expect few, if any, large goods vehicles will use the northern section of Wick Lane. Deliveries to/from the north will principally be vans and small vehicles.

SEGRO is committed to delivering a sustainable solution to all their sites, including here in Hackney Wick. That is why our plans show a car free development, with parking spaces only for operational vehicles. There will be EV charging points at each of our on-site parking spaces, and we will put the infrastructure in place during construction so that we are able to accommodate a fully electric fleet of vehicles for when the technology is readily available for businesses to upgrade their fleets.

In consultation with Transport for London, SEGRO is proposing to facilitate the provision of a new, covered bus shelter. TfL Buses have been consulted throughout the design process and they and LLDC planning officers are satisfied with the emerging proposals for the site.

The introduction of the new site access from Crown Close will require the removal of 2 existing on-street parking spaces at the eastern end of Crown Close. As part of the transport input, a potential spot to relocate these has been identified further south along Wick Lane (north of the zebra crossing) and this will be discussed with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets highways team.

Were LLDC to approve a future planning application, we believe it would take 12 months to complete the development. We are hoping to secure planning permission in Q3 of 2023.

SEGRO will use a member of the Considerate Constructors Scheme to deliver the new urban warehouse and they will follow the Construction Management Plan that will form part of a future planning application. This will include measures for managing noise and dust created during the construction process. SEGRO is committed to engaging with neighbours during the preparation of this plan and throughout the course of the construction process.

No widespread significant contamination has been identified on-site, and no significant volatile (odorous) contaminants have been identified.

The re-development of the site will reduce the potential risks associated with the currently derelict site, with exposed soils at the surface and potential impacts to neighbouring properties minimised by the groundworks contractor limiting the areas of open excavations and preventing dust generation by damping down soils.