Jules Pipe, Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills, visited the former Nestle factory in Hayes yesterday to mark the start of the significant regeneration of the 30 acre vacant site that will create jobs and homes in Hillingdon.
The Deputy Mayor was taken on a tour around the old chocolate and coffee production plant to see how this innovative regeneration plan will provide a solution to the challenge of creating the homes and jobs that London needs.
SEGRO, Europe’s leading owner and developer of modern big box and urban warehouses, and Barratt London have designed a mixed-use scheme that will deliver 230,000 sq ft of sustainable, high quality employment space alongside 1,381 new homes.
The scheme, which achieved planning permission in December 2017, will bring many benefits to the local community. It will have strong links to the history and heritage of the site with the original art deco factory frontage being retained and designed into the residential development.
There will be areas of extensively landscaped public green space, improvements to the canal frontage and surrounding roads including a contribution to the upgrade of the Bulls Bridge Roundabout, as well as a 3 km public trim trail, 2,000 cycle spaces and electric vehicle charging points.
The development will create up to 350 jobs during the construction phase, and around 500 permanent jobs once the industrial space is completed. In addition to the job opportunities, local businesses will benefit from a tailored supply chain initiative designed to help SMEs access a range of construction work packages.
Demolition has begun on the site, with SEGRO expected to complete the industrial scheme by May 2020. The first phase of Barratt London’s residential units will be available for occupation in Summer 2020.
Jules Pipe, Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills, said: “It was great to visit the site of the former Nestle factory today and to see at first-hand how it will be transformed into a vibrant new part of the capital, with hundreds of genuinely affordable homes.
“For 80 years, this plant produced vast quantities of chocolate and coffee. I am pleased that the site’s future will bring huge benefits to the capital, providing much-needed employment space that will create new jobs, and delivering public green space as well as new homes.”
Alan Holland, SEGRO’s Business Director of Greater London, said: “We are excited to have started on site to transform the vacant Nestle factory into a living and vibrant place to live and work. It’s a pioneering scheme for Greater London that is a great example of how to solve the issues of providing homes and creating jobs against a back drop of diminishing supplies of land, whilst also delivering excellent benefits for the local community.”
Gary Ennis, Regional Managing Director for Barratt London and Southern, said:“We are thrilled to be starting on site for the redevelopment of the former Nestle Factory in Hayes. The project represents our first partnership with an industrial property company, and we are proud to be delivering a masterplan which not only provides nearly 1,400 much-needed new homes, but also jobs and employment uses, while opening up a site which has remained closed to the public for decades”
The site, which SEGRO acquired in 2015, is in a prime location for business and residents. It is less than a mile from junction 3 of the M4 motorway which offers easy access to the UK motorway network for regional distribution and to central London for urban logistics operators. It is also next to the Hayes and Harlington railway station which will become a Crossrail station in 2019.
