Network Rail Property submits East London rail freight campus masterplan

Network Rail Property has submitted an outline masterplan to regenerate 12 hectares of brownfield land at Bow Goods Yard, near the Olympic Park in East London.

The scheme will deliver London’s largest integrated rail freight logistics hub, catering for both construction sector traffic and rail-enabled last-mile warehousing; creating a future model for rail freight site regeneration.

The masterplan is Network Rail Property’s first independent planning submission, and Bow Goods Yard is the final parcel of land to be unlocked as part of London’s 2012 Olympic and Paralympic legacy.

Bow Goods Yard is already one of London’s primary railheads. Protected for rail-freight use, the site is vital to the capital’s construction sector, currently supplying over a million tonnes of concrete a year.

The industrial-led masterplan will enable Bow Goods Yard to help London transition to “a greener freight future” by taking up to 90,000 HGV movements a year from London’s roads, reducing congestion and emissions. Proposals also include the introduction of an integrated last mile logistics hub. 

Rail freight contributes £2.5bn to the UK economy and is set to grow. Government has set a target of a 75% growth in rail freight by 2050 which will see many businesses making the switch to rail, with freight hubs such as Bow Goods Yard central to this expansion.

The new scheme maximises the capacity of the railhead, improves rail freight efficiency through consolidating operations and encloses and screens the concrete-batching facility and rail sidings.

In addition to the industrial operations, the masterplan provides an opportunity to deliver a new centralised hub for Network Rail, as well as extensive warehousing and workspaces. Additionally, a range of leisure uses are proposed to increase activity around Bow Goods Yard and complement existing facilities on the Olympic Park.

The design also delivers a series of green open spaces around the site, to make the most the site’s emerging neighbourhood. The Greenway will become a central feature alongside nearly a hectare of publicly accessible open space across three public spaces.

Robin Dobson, Group Property Director at Network Rail, said, “This masterplan takes an ambitious approach to unlocking a challenging site and putting infrastructure at its heart. By reimaging the land-use, we are creating a state-of-the-art freight, warehousing and logistics campus that is vital to London.”

The masterplanning team for Bow Goods Yard included: Maccreanor Lavington Architects and Urbanists, UMC Architects, Architecture 00, East, WSP, make:good, Useful Projects, Montagu Evans and Currie and Brown.