Birmingham property developer SevenCapital has revealed plans for a £1 billion push into the London residential market with three major projects in Kensington, Islington and the Isle of Dogs providing more than 1,000 new homes.
The first £500 million scheme, called 100 Kensington, already has planning consent and will create 462 new homes in an area of London with notoriously low levels of new housebuilding.
The other two projects are currently in the planning process, with £290 million Klein’s Wharf in the Isle of Dogs, providing 375 new homes, and the £210 million Archway Campus in Islington, comprised of 178 new homes of which over 50% are affordable.
SevenCapital was founded in 2009 by chairman Bal Sohal and managing director Damien Siviter and has a £2.1 billion portfolio of completed and pipeline projects mainly focussed on the Midlands.
To deliver 100 Kensington SevenCapitalhas teamed up with European property investment manager MARK, which already has a portfolio of major projects in central London.
The development on the junction of West Cromwell Road and Warwick Road next to the Tesco superstore was masterplanned by John McAslan & Partners with detailed design by Corstorphine & Wright and interiors by design practice Conran & Partners.
The1.7 hectare site will provide 462 new homes, including 276 market sale apartments and 186 affordable homes in a complex including a 29-storey residential tower, which will become the tallest residential building in the borough.
There will also be 15,000 sq.ft. leisure facility with a 20 metre pool, gym and fitness studio in a sports club that residents can join at a discounted rate of around £30 a month, as well as a concierge service, 25,000 sq ft. retail and office space and a landscaped podium garden above the Tesco car park.
Prices for one bed apartments are expected to start from £895,000 at launch in the coming weeks with pricing around £1,700 per sq ft. Completion is expected in early 2027.
James Moody, chief operating officer of SevenCapital, said the company had already received around 500 enquiries, many from the UK market but also potential buyers in the Far East, Middle East and Africa.
A second site on the Isle of Dogs fronting on the Thames at Klein’s wharf is currently with planners at Tower Hamlets council.
The proposal is for 375 new homes across three buildings, including 40% designated affordable homes. The wharf is next to the Millwall Outer Dock giving the homes on the upper floors open water views over the Thames and dock basin.
The proposals for the scheme include a riverside café, a community hub and over 50,000 sq.ft. of public realm with new public access from Westferry Road to the River Thames.
The historic industrial site was originally occupied by the vast Victorian-era Fenner’s Oil and Paint Refinery, founded by Nathaniel and Henry Fenner in 1856, which operated up until the early Thirties, providing fuel and paint for the ships that berthed in London Docklands.
The third project is on a 1.47 hectare site off Archway Road in Islington, overlooking Archway Park, and is also in the planning system with Islington council.
The scheme, known as Archway Campus is centred on a former Victorian hospital building that began its life as The Holborn and Finsbury Union Workhouse Infirmary. It was designed by Victorian architect Henry Saxon Snell in the decorative Gothic-Revival style that echoes St Pancras Station.
Built between 1877-79 the landmark complex has a main and side wings with grand Gothic-Revival architectural features including pointed arches, finials, lancet windows and hood moulds.
It became part of Whittington Hospital in 1948 but the site was sold by the NHS in 1998 to the Middlesex University and University College London and it became, a medical training ground for students.
In 2014 the campus was sold to housing association Peabody and after being vacant for over a decade it was acquired by SevenCapital who devised proposals and submitted a planning application in late 2024.
The proposals will refurbish the historic buildings and redevelop the remainder of the site to provide 178 newly built and converted homes, 51% of which will be affordable. The scheme will include student accommodation in a new building providing 242 student rooms. The architectural masterplan was drawn up by Stirling Prize Winner Niall McLaughlin Architects, working alongside GRID.
Damien Siviter, group managing director of SevenCapital said: “After building our presence in Birmingham and the Midlands we are now broadening our operations and expanding into London and the South East. Robustly planned and designed our new London developments will benefit from our exemplary track record with over 15 years of continuous deliverance.”
James Moody said “Our expansion strategy in the London marketplace is focused on designing, creating and delivering wonderful new homes over a select number of high quality developments.”
