Outline planning permission has been granted for a £3.5bn project to completely redevelop Silvertown Quay on land near Royal Dock in East London.



This scheme will be part of the further development of the docklands which includes the plan for the Royal Dock site will consist of a 62-acre mixed use development with offices, leisure and retail facilities as well as 3,000 homes which will include a significant amount of affordable housing.



The docklands site is currently owned by the government and Chelsfield with partners Imagination Europe and First Base plan to create a 3m sq ft of mixed use development on the 50 acre site.



The first phase of the development should be completed by 2018 to meet the Crossrail connections and will see the iconic 450,000 sq ft Millennium Mills converted into a technology, media and telecoms business hub.



Work has already been carried out earlier in the year to begin to take out the old asbestos that was used in the former flour mill.

Central to the new London Quarter will be a number of pavilions where products from leading brands can be showcased and exhibited as part of the developers intention to turn the refurbished dock into the world’s first purpose built area for product development and innovation.

Key points of the development include:

3m sq ft of brand spaces

2m of residential (up to 3,000 new homes)

2msq ft of commercial space

Aims to attract 13m visitors a year from across the country and abroad

In addition to the large number of construction jobs and the increase in the demand for building supplies such as consrtruction workwear, the development is expected to generate around 27,000 new jobs in the next 10 years and the developers have to pay £10m to Workplace from Newham Council to help provide training and professional development for local residents to help them take advantage of some of the job opportunities in the development.