So, like, I was checking out this new development in Dagenham Green, right? Apparently, there’s gonna be 3,500 homes, groves of trees, and wildflower meadows all mixed in with these huge blocks of flats. Sounds pretty fancy, if you ask me.
I walked into this marketing suite and the head of sales, Eloise Solari, starts going on about how nice it’s gonna be to walk through the park in the morning, grab a coffee, and hop on the train from Dagenham Dock station. But hold up a sec, ’cause there ain’t no park yet, and there ain’t no cafés either. We’re just standing in this suite looking at a model of what the place is gonna be like.
The whole 45-acre site is still a massive building site, with more trucks, hard hats, and hi-vis jackets than trees or flowers. They’re saying it’s gonna take at least another decade before everything is finished and all the greenery is planted.
But hey, the first chunk of the development is almost done, with 74 flats ready to move into by the end of September. And guess what? A third of them are already sold, so it won’t be long before people start moving in and calling this place home.
Most of the buyers are first-time homeowners who couldn’t afford to rent in Canary Wharf. They just wanna get a foot on the property ladder, you know?
For now, everyone’s gotta use their imagination (thank goodness for those fancy CGI graphics) to picture what it’s all gonna look like. The plans sound pretty epic though, with a new urban park, a school, and even a dedicated bus route on the cards.
But if you’re one of the first to move in, you’re gonna have to deal with the view of a building site for a good five years, according to project director Paul Ansell. Bummer, right?
Peabody snagged this site, which used to be a Ford factory, back in 2021. They’ve teamed up with The Hill Group to build the first 935 homes, right next to Dagenham Dock station. These flats will be a mix of rentals, ‘affordable’ housing, and some for sale or shared ownership.
Even though it’s gonna take ages to finish everything, they’re planning to create some green spaces as the first residents move in. Plus, they’re almost set on getting a supermarket in the area, and there will be a concierge service from day one.
The location is pretty sweet, with easy access to central London via the c2c service and Tube services from Dagenham Heathway. No more struggling like the folks over in Beam Park, right?
And get this, some lucky souls who move into the top of a 19-storey tower block will have killer views of the City. Imagine sipping your morning coffee with a view of all those skyscrapers. Not too shabby, huh?
If you’re looking to buy, there are one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments up for grabs. The cheapest one is just under £300,000, and about half of the flats are gonna be ‘affordable’ homes. So, Dagenham Green might actually help ease the housing crisis in London.
I mean, if they can actually pull off everything they’re promising, I reckon a lot of Londoners will be jumping at the chance to live here. Who wouldn’t want to stroll through a park on their way to the station, right?
