Newham Leisure Centre Regeneration - Business Case

The London Borough of Newham (LBN) is commissioning a development consultancy to lead the creation of an outline business case for housing, health and leisure uses on the Newham Leisure Centre site. This forms Output 2 of a wider regeneration programme focused on delivering a Health and Wellbeing Campus.

Following the completion of the Strategic Regeneration Framework (Appendix 1) earlier this year, the following brief outlines the scope of work for one of two commissions being taken forward to assess the deliverability of regeneration on the Newham Leisure Centre site.

Output 2 (this commission) will develop an outline business case using the leisure centre site to assess the need, economic rationale, phasing, and delivery mechanisms for housing typologies that are not currently being delivered by the market but offer economic benefits to the healthcare system - such as key worker housing. This might be a mix of affordable housing or market rate housing, where this supports the overall viability of the project. This workstream will also explore other suitable sites to scale up delivery, including identifying delivery mechanisms, grant funding and potential investors for affordable, key worker housing, elderly living facilities, step-down care, and sheltered accommodation.

The commission aims to:

• Explore opportunities for housing typologies that support the health and social care system and Newham's housing requirements more broadly.
• Establish mechanisms that minimise financial and delivery risk to the Council.
• Unlock institutional investment and partnership working to support long-term regeneration.
• Find ways to enhance Newham's land values in order to cross-subsidise wider capital projects (e.g. sport infrastructure).
• Reduce social care and temporary accommodation expenditure through preventative and integrated housing models.

Output 1 focuses on establishing the design and planning case, led by an architecture and urban design consultancy. The successful bidder for Output 2 will be expected to work in close collaboration with the design team to ensure spatial, planning, and design considerations are being balanced with a financially robust and viable business plan.

Key areas of collaboration include:

• Testing spatial implications of housing and infrastructure options developed in the business case.
• Design commentary on housing mixes and typologies, and their impact on site layout, public realm, and integration with health and leisure uses.
• Joint scenario testing for housing capacity and open space provision, based on planning and financial constraints and community needs.

This integrated approach ensures that the business case is grounded in deliverable spatial strategies and reflects the vision established in the Strategic Regeneration Framework.