Tower Hamlets Council has approved an application for 900 homes by Glenn Howells Architects, Panter Hudspith and White Arkitekter on a Thames-side site in east London The development of Blackwall Yard will see five buildings, between nine and 39-storeys tall, added to the 1.7ha site, which sits between housing estate Virginia Quay and a Thomson Reuters data centre. The scheme, masterplanned by Glenn Howells, will feature 35 per cent affordable homes, as well as a primary school, community hub and 1,500m2 commercial and retail spaces spread over the ground and lower levels. It will also see the Grade II-listed Graving Dock partially infilled and landscaped, while part of the dock would be filled with water and either serve as a pond or as a place for swimming. Planners at Tower Hamlets said the scheme would provide ‘considerable public benefit’ by improving links and creating public space, as well as through the provision of homes, shops and a school. The scheme, for Hadley Property Group, was approved unanimously by councillors on the borough’s Strategic Development Committee at a meeting on Wednesday evening (14 July). The two riverside blocks, designed by White Arkitekter, will stand at 15 and 20 storeys and contain housing, with commercial uses at ground level. The north-west of the site will have two towers by Glen Howells Architects, standing at 33 and 38 storeys. The towers will be above a large podium block with community and commercial space. The final building, also set back from the Thames, will be part-five, part-nine storeys and is designed by Panter Hudspith. It will contain a primary school and the scheme’s affordable housing provision. In 2005, Squire & Partners received planning permission for a scheme on the same plot, comprising 708 homes across six building, rising up to 29 storeys, but the design was never built. Glenn Howells Architects partner William Poole said: ‘With sustainable living at its heart, Blackwall Yard will bring together an incredible array of public benefits, including the restored Graving Dock, a new primary school and more than half a hectare of public realm that provides local residents with much needed outside space.’