Morgan Sindall Construction selected for £107m tower in Canning Town

English Cities Fund (ECF)has appointed Morgan Sindall Construction to deliver a 34-story mixed use development that will bring new homes and commercial space to Canning Town.

The £107.25 million Manor Road Quarter scheme, located in the East London borough of Newham and on the north side of the River Thames, features 355 apartments, 50% of which will be affordable homes. The development also has 8,000 sq ft of commercial and retail space and will become one of the tallest structures in the Canning Town area on completion in Q4 2024. A two-acre linear park is also to be created on the site with new walking and cycle routes to improve the community’s connectivity and promote active travel.

ECF, which is a national strategic partnership bringing together the best of the public and private sectors in Homes England, Legal & General and leading urban regenerator, Muse Developments, has a vision to enhance the appeal of Canning Town as a place to live and work. Its Manor Road Quarter has been designed by EPR Architects, with Gardiner and Theobald as the Professional Quantity Surveyor, Gleeds operating as the Client Project Manager and Metropolitan and Thames Valley HA as primary tenant and purchaser.

Richard Dobson, Morgan Sindall Construction’s area director for London, said: “We’re delighted to have been chosen to deliver the Manor Road Quarter, which will serve Canning Town well and support further regeneration.

“We have worked collaboratively with ECF, their professional team, designers and our all-important supply-chain during a two-stage process to now successfully bring this project to site. With volatility and inflationary pressures to manage, we have had to challenge ourselves for flexible and innovative solutions.”

“ECF has prioritised Net Zero and our approach is optimised to deliver low carbon development. We will be using tools that Morgan Sindall Group created as part of our wider Decarbonising Communities strategy. These include our carbon calculation tool CarboniCa that allows site teams to estimate, manage and reduce carbon emissions throughout the lifecycle of projects, from design and construction to operation.

Elizabeth Wright, senior development manager at ECF, said: “Appointing Morgan Sindall Construction is a key milestone in the delivery of the Manor Road Quarter, as we collectively get ready to bring the vision for the scheme to life and we’re looking forward to be working with the team.

“Everyone deserves to live in a great place. A place that promotes health and well-being, sustainability and that brings people together. We’re delighted to be continuing our work repurposing key areas in the town in partnership, providing high-quality affordable homes, while creating spaces and places that deliver direct benefits to the Newham community.”

The project is targeted to achieve a BREEAM Very Good rating and it is estimated that the sustainable nature of the design will reduce the building’s carbon output by 51%.

The site will be entirely gas-free with air source heat pumps providing an ambient temperature supply to the apartments, avoiding the need for additional ventilation. The building will also actively minimise its energy requirements, with photovoltaic cells generating renewable energy and efficient lighting with controls to ensure lights are not left on unnecessarily.

The Manor Road Quarter will support healthy, environmentally friendly lifestyles in other ways. A large cycle store combined with only seven onsite car parking bays and close proximity to a tube station will encourage the use of sustainable transport options. External features such as green areas, a skate park and an outdoor gym will help improve the health and wellbeing levels of those living and working in the area.

The scale of the site and its location in a highly congested part of East London posed several logistical challenges at the planning stage which Morgan Sindall Construction has already solved.

All of the construction equipment has been earthed due to the presence of a 60m-high pylon and the height of the tower necessitated wind mitigation methods, such as landscaped areas in between buildings to reduce wind speeds. The team also has to account for a sewer line running under part of the site and working adjacent to the DLR/ Jubilee Line.

Offsite solutions, including unitised cladding, bathroom pods and service risers, were chosen to ensure factory-level quality while minimising deliveries and waste. This approach also means minimal scaffolding will be required, making the construction work safer and faster to conduct.

• For more information about this news release please contact Chris Hulme Influential on 07971 350116 [email protected]