Plans for new towers in Greenwich beside Silvertown tunnel and former gasholder
An application has been submitted for new towers in Greenwich.
Developer Tribe is behind the proposal located beside the Silvertown tunnel entrance. It’s also beside a former gasholder site with separate development plans, where Scape submitted a proposal in late 2025 for three blocks rising to 17, 24, and 29 storeys.
A total of 850 student rooms would be included alongside 450 co-living rooms and 80 social homes.
The application in last week for beside Silvertown tunnel can be seen here and there appears to be mistakes with total number of student rooms shown. It states 373 student rooms and 380 co-living spaces in the main description whilst documents submitted such as the Planning Statement claim 673 rooms in 13 and 27 storey blocks plus 380 co-living rooms.
The higher number appears to be the actual total. I’ve also noticed in some media reports that they state 1,000 student rooms. This is not the case as co-living is not allocated to students. Students may live there much as they could in any dwelling but it’s not specifically allocated for students.
The application states “there is a net deficit of 1,871 bedspace across the catchment and 581 spaces in Greenwich, even accounting for the full pipeline (of which it is acknowledged not all will come forward). Therefore, there is a clear need for additional student accommodation in this location.”
In terms of “affordable” spaces, the level is set at 35% of the rooms (236 beds).
Growth in student housing plans
Developer Tribe is behind a large number of proposals including another 27-storey tower in Greenwich which has just commenced and was covered on this site in recent days.
Also nearby sits a plot on Boord Street owned by Fairview marked number two in the image above. It’s seen a recent increase in proposed student rooms to 353.
Another tower near the o2 containing 820 student rooms has been approved. Also in Greenwich is the former Speedy Hire site. That will see 190 rooms.
Separately in 2025 we saw Knight Dragon sought to alter their masterplan to permit “circa 1,000 student rooms, or circa 720 co-living rooms” in one phase of their overall masterplan.
In Deptford Tribe also propose 641 student rooms at Sun Wharf while this month saw events on a potential 300 student rooms as part of a revamp for Albany Theatre.
OMG!! Are all the yellow ones yet to be built? That’s absol horrendous. A future Ghetto. Who is building infrastructure/amenities to match? And where oh where is the green breathing space in that lot! I cannot see any with balconies, so the only outdoor space they’ll get is from current parks, which are few and far between, and already overloaded in summer months, especially The Royal Park with its tourism. And already anti-social behaviour and ignorance of park rules are increasing noticeably (with now no Met Police support, due supposedly to their ongoing ‘cutbacks’ -as they call the things which constantly go down as council taxes go up! It’s so sad that we have no powers to halt this! Before it’s too late. Build more educational establishments further out and then the accommodation can follow, not here! I realise that’s a NIMBY attitude, but this is our home and my birthplace that you are ‘covering’ in concrete and massively increasing the pollution in, in an area now run by the Greens, ironically. I could cry.
Chicken hatches instead of family housing!!
Also: primary schools are closing due to lack of children and the number of foreign students is being drastically cut; this seems to be a complete idiotic concept.
Hi Evs, Absolutely agree with you. The amount of student rooms being built are quiet concerning when we need homes for people on the waiting list. Many of whom have been on the waiting list for years..
I am going to be brutally honest. If i offend apologise in advance. But i am seriously Iwondering if some of the student rooms being built may house migrants moved out of hotels. As where are tbey being placed in the Borough. No one on the council have ever said where they are to be rehoused in Greenwich.. we have a right to know as local residents.. My understanding was student numbers were falling with overseas student numbers being cut.
The map of the peninsular goes to show how dysfunctional residential development has become in this country. As can be seen, despite the obvious demand for housing, only a tiny fraction of area has actually been developed over nearly THREE decades. All the while, schemes are ‘proposed’, increasing the asset value of the site for the landowner/developer that owns it, yet very little actually gets built. The whole system seems utterly corrupt.
Whilst I’m not a fan of the architecture, developments like this aimed at shorter term residents like students and co-living are needed.
They free up other accommodation better suited to families, and the location of the site on what is currently empty land next to a major London road is not attractive to those with families. We need a mix of accommodation and this is useful as a “blocking” development – i.e blocking off the major road to shelter some of the more family orientated developments.
There’s 6500 houses Houses in Multiple Occupational across the borough, and if a private developer is happy to take on the risk to develop derelict land to potentially reduce HMO demand and free up these properties for families then I’m all for it, rather than having a piece of undeveloped poor quality land with a high PTAL rating in a major world city.
There are 29,000 people on the housing waiting list in Greenwich alone, yet the council’s own current housing developments only seek to provide around 1,700 homes – eventually. In the meantime, Greenwich council is spending £12m annually to provide temporary accommodation (hotels, hostels etc) to over 1,500 individuals, while thousands of existing tenants languish in unsuitable, low-quality properties.
At the same time, the Govt is seeking to attract 600,000 foreign students to the UK per year, and has incentivised investment into building student accommodation. The higher fees paid by foreign students is bankrolling our higher education system.
If the Govt can incentivise the development of accommodation for people who aren’t yet in the UK, why can’t it do the same for those that are?? Personally, it makes more sense to house people already living permanently in the UK, and to reduce the financial burden on local authority budgets, than to build accommodation aimed at attracting short-stay students from overseas.