This joint research project will investigate how we can fund, deliver and manage successful commercial activities in mixed use schemes.

The Mayor of London’s draft London Plan marks a significant change of direction in relation to industrial land use; after years of rapid loss of industrial land for housing, the Mayor is now calling for no net loss of floorspace.

Mixing uses, so that new homes can site above or alongside commercial premises, is going to be an increasingly important and viable way of creating great neighbourhoods to live, and places that work, across London’s opportunity areas, housing zones, industrial estates, retail parks and town centres.

But there is little research on how to make this happen. What are the implications for investors, for planners, for land owners, for developers, for operators and for landlords? Our research, being undertaken jointly with GVA, 00 Architecture and Real Urbanism, is addressing the following questions:

• What types of commercial and industrial use can be mixed with residential?
• Where do the finances for this type of mixed use stack up, and where might subsidy be needed?
• How should investment be secured for this type of innovative mix?
• What types of organisations would be best placed to manage these developments?
• How could we optimise the potential of commercial-residential mix?

The research will be published in early July 2018.

If you are interested in contributing to the research, please get in touch with Centre for London associate Dan Hill.