Key facts
- Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell has put the £1bn Westferry Printworks development up for sale.
- The 15-acre site on the Isle of Dogs has planning consent for over 1300 homes.
- The development includes shops, offices, restaurants, and a secondary school.
- Northern & Shell recently sought to reduce the scheme's affordable housing requirement.
- The company is seeking joint venture partners to deliver the project.
- The site has been vacant for over a decade.
Richard Desmond's property company, Northern & Shell, has placed its £1bn Westferry Printworks development on London's Isle of Dogs up for sale. The 15-acre site, which has planning consent for over 1300 homes alongside retail, office, and educational facilities, is being marketed by estate agents Savills. This move follows a recent rebuff from local authority Tower Hamlets in April, which rejected Northern & Shell's request to reduce the affordable housing component of the scheme from 35% to 10%.
The company is reportedly in talks with potential suitors to bring in joint venture partners, who could either proceed with the existing consented development or substantially amend it. The Westferry site has remained vacant for over a decade, with previous planning applications facing rejections or abandonment.
This sale occurs as Desmond navigates the financial aftermath of a failed legal challenge against the Gambling Commission regarding the National Lottery contract. Northern & Shell's claims for £1.3bn in damages were dismissed, and the firm was ordered to pay approximately £29m in legal costs to the Commission and Allwyn, with its own legal fees amounting to £19.3m. The company is seeking permission to appeal this decision.
The Westferry site was formerly a newspaper printing facility, including for titles like the Express, which Desmond once owned. It closed in 2011 and was demolished in 2017, with Northern & Shell acquiring the freehold in 2014. The development previously drew attention in 2020 when it emerged Desmond had lobbied then-housing secretary Robert Jenrick to intervene in its approval process.