Historic Greenwich factory Telegraph Works to be turned into luxury flats
A Greenwich site that dates back to Queen Elizabeth I's reign – when it was used to store gunpowder to fight the Spanish Armada – is being turned into a £120m luxury residential development.
The Telegraph Works – which was later used to build the first transatlantic telegraph cable, allowing Queen Victoria to conduct the first formal communication with President Buchanan in 1858 – is being developed as a joint venture with Weston Homes and Cathedral Group.
They plan to turn the 1.2 acre site, just off Blackwall Lane, into 272 homes, set within landscape grounds that include a green square bordered by an allotment garden, butterfly garden, picnic area and rope garden.
The factory was used to telegraph cable through the war, supporting the D-Day invasion, before switching to fibreoptic production in 1975, continuing until 2013. Planning permission was received in October 2014. Cable shops and warehouses are now being replaced by a landmark development providing nearly 200,000 sq ft of residential accommodation.
The development will include four apartment buildings, an 18 storey tower and three eight storey buildings, which between them will provide 256 one-, two- and three- bed apartments as well as a number of penthouses ranging from 550 sq ft to 1,200 sq ft.
Prices are anticipated to start from £300,000 for a one-bedroom apartment.
Bob Weston, chairman and managing director of Weston Homes said the development would “deliver desperately needed homes to the local community and Londoners from further afield”.
“This project is a flagship London development for the joint venture partners and has a luxurious specification with a range of option choices for the designer fixtures and fittings.”