Investment Opportunities
Opportunity Areas
Area of Intensification
Central activity Zone
International or metropolitan
Major
District
Borough Boundary
Green Belt
Metropolitan open land / Other open spaces
Rail station
Railway track
Foreshore
Water
Dalston is Hackney’s largest town centre, known for its cultural and social diversity, a thriving creative sector, varied business community and much-loved institutions like the historic Ridley Road market. Council-owned sites in Dalston have been identified for development in the Dalston Plan – a new town centre plan prepared with input from around 5,000 local people. The plan sets out that the town centre could accommodate over 600 new homes and 14,000 sqm of commercial space in future years by bringing forward the development sites set out in the plan. Alongside partners and site occupiers, we want to bring forward exemplary development and use innovative approaches to Council-owned land and assets to meet the need for genuinely affordable housing and workspace at these sites, while helping make the town centre greener and more accessible and protecting its unique heritage.
Development value: Circa £100m
Planning status: Pre-planning
Completion: 2025+
Hackney Central is the civic and cultural heart of Hackney, a key hub where transport routes come together, and a growing town centre with a diverse retail offer, a thriving evening economy, and iconic cultural facilities. Identified as a key strategic location for growth and investment, the Council is aiming for 3,000 new jobs and 1,000 new homes in Hackney Central, centred around investment in key sites, improving public spaces and transport infrastructure and kickstarted through £19m in new investment for the town centre through the government’s Levelling Up Fund. An ambitious regeneration programme for Council-owned sites in Hackney Central will contribute to these ambitions, with innovative partnerships, co-creation collaboration with town centre stakeholders providing exciting opportunities to deliver new homes, jobs, workspace, public realm and cultural uses.
Development value: Circa £200m
Planning status: Pre-planning
Completion: 2025+
Over the last 15 years, Hackney has experienced more social and economic change than almost anywhere else in the UK, developing a reputation as a diverse borough renowned for its creativity, cultural industry and tech innovation.
This transformation has created new opportunities for residents and businesses, but left some feeling excluded from the prosperity that they see around them. Our commitment is to work with communities to shape places, support businesses and ensure opportunities are available to everyone as part of a fairer, greener and more inclusive economy.
To achieve this, we use a place-based approach to regeneration and development, engaging extensively with our communities, utilising our own assets to deliver on the priorities identified by our residents, and using every tool we have to ensure local people and businesses benefit from change.
From genuinely affordable housing to new workspaces for business, Council-owned land in key town centres like Dalston and Hackney Central provides major opportunities to help meet the future needs of Hackney’s communities.
Our ambition is to maximise these opportunities, while also creating greener and more accessible places and protecting what already makes Hackney a great place to be.
Population projections 2021 281,520
Population projections 2050 339,481
London plan new homes (ten-year target) 13,280
Building council homes for Londoners (four-year programme) 949
Suzanne Johnson, Head of Area Regeneration
“Change in Hackney is nothing new and, as we work to ensure a fair recovery from the pandemic in Hackney, it’s more important than ever that the benefits of this are shared across our borough and that growth itself is shaped more by the ambitions of local people and the shared social goals our communities.
We’re determined to build an inclusive economy, led by our social values and tapping into the entrepreneurial energy that makes Hackney a place that supports everyone in the borough.
After more than a decade of austerity, we are in a unique position of having maintained control of key sites, particularly in growing and thriving town centres like Dalston and Hackney Central. Alongside our communities, we’re committed to using these to shape the future of our town centres in line with their priorities.
Working innovatively with local stakeholders on our assets and the opportunities they present can make a big contribution to delivering the future homes and facilities Hackney needs, addressing the affordability challenges around housing and workspaces, and creating more accessible, liveable places for the future.”
