Following an agreement between the Mayor and Barratt Homes Trenchard House, which is the site of a former Metropolitan police station, will be demolished after lying vacant for 13 years. It will be replaced with 78 residential units, 65 of which will be earmarked as affordable homes, and will be administered by the Dolphin Square Foundation. Unconditional contracts have been signed.
"After years of lying dormant it is fantastic news that this site will be welcoming in the diggers and bringing new homes to the heart of historic Soho," said Johnson. He said that the release of public land for new development would give "a boost to the economy and to jobs in the construction industry", delivering more homes for Londoners.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) took over the affordable homes programme from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) London region, the London Development Agency and London Thames Gateway Development Corporation in April 2012 under powers set out in the Localism Act.
The GLA is set to invest over £1.9 billion in affordable housing property in the capital from 2012 to 2015.
Alastair Baird, regional managing director of Barratt London, said: “It is excellent news that the Mayor is pushing hard to bring publicly owned derelict sites back into use."
In September 2012 the GLA gave consent for Westminster City Council to determine the proposed scheme that is considered to be of strategic importance.
