Hong Kong developer has chosen firm to build more than 20 buildings on 17,500-home development

Mace has signed what is thought to be one of the largest private construction frameworks in London with a £2bn deal to build out the next phase of Knight Dragon’s Greenwich Peninsula scheme.

The 10 year contract will give the construciton giant exclusive rights to carry out work at the site which was given the go-ahead by former London mayor Boris Johnson in 2015.

Knight Dragon’s masterplan for the Greenwich Peninsula includes plans for 17,487 homes, which it is building out in partnership with affordable housing provider L&Q.

Greenwich Peninsula_Knight Dragon_aerial view

Knight Dragon’s plans for the Greenwich Peninsula

Mace’s construction chief executive Gareth Lewis said: “It’s probably a capital value of about £2bn, conservatively, to build out a mini-Manhattan. We’re very excited by it all.”

The number of buildings covered by the framework is 21 projects with the tallest tower coming in at 34 storeys and the smallest around eight storeys.

Mace, whose construction arm is expected to post revenues of just under £1.5bn for last year when it files its 2021 accounts shortly, built the site’s first five towers, ranging from 26 to 32 storeys, on a plot called Upper Riverside outside the O2 arena. The latest phase of work covers Lower Riverside and further plots at Meridian Quays.

Meridian Quays is set to comprise over 5,700 homes once complete, with Knight Dragon is progressing detailed plans for the first 3,000 of these with an estimated GDV of £2.5bn.

Work on the projects with Mace is set to start immediately with Gardiner & Theobald recently appointed project QS. 

Hong Kong firm Knight Dragon took over the whole Greenwich Peninsula project from joint venture partner Quintain in 2012.

Knight Dragon chief executive Richard Margree said: “I am delighted to be working with Mace again. Their determined desire to be better and do better matches our own. The scale of our joint proposals and this 10 year framework demonstrates an ambitious and brave partnership. We are confident we can deliver together by being long term in our thinking.”

Mace and G&T are currently working together on Sellar’s £350m Paddington Square scheme in west London which is due to be handed over this autumn. It has been designed by Renzo Piano.

o2

Source: Shutterstock

Mace built the site’s first group of towers (top right) in the shadow of the O2