We had a discussion this evening at the RA about East London: not the East London which I know and have written about west of the River Lea; but the large tracts of local authority housing and industrial wasteland which lies beyond in Stratford, Maryland, Romford, Barking, Dagenham and beyond. The discussion was focussed on three grand projets: Here East, the Olympic Media Centre which is being converted into tech units by Hawkins\Brown; the development of Albert Docks by Terry Farrell; and the creation of a new town on derelict land in Barking Riverside. The mood was in some ways optimistic: except that nobody had a solution as to how to provide effective quality and diversity in housing projects; and how to ensure that affordable housing is affordable. This is managed in the Netherlands, Berlin and Scandinavia. Surely there are ways of ensuring that – as we were told – 50% of new housing is not in the hands of six private developers.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
Did the major Boroughs participate? And the Mayor, Sadiq Khan? And indeed the Secretary of State? All are vital. of course, if Affordable Housing is really going to be affordable.
Yes, they are all three government/city hall initiatives. But so-called affordable housing in Barking Riverside (the modern equivalent of Thamesmead) costs £370k and – although not all of it – is fairly monolithic. Charles