IN Brief:
- Planning permission covers 843 co-living rooms and 153 affordable homes at Mastmaker Road.
- The hybrid consent includes demolition, two tall buildings, and new community space.
- A future school component is included as an outline element.
Tower Hamlets Council has voted to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of Mastmaker Court, 20–34 Mastmaker Road, E14, approving a dual-building scheme designed by Squire & Partners that packages co-living at scale with affordable housing and a reserved school component.
The consent is a hybrid application. The detailed component provides 843 co-living rooms within a tall building, alongside amenity areas, servicing, landscaping, and wider public realm works. A separate affordable housing building delivers 153 self-contained homes, with tenure split heavily towards social rent, and includes ground-floor community space. The outline component covers a future school element, intended to come forward through later reserved matters and a separate planning submission.
The site is currently occupied by warehouse-style units and associated parking, with parts used for a small alternative provision education setting. The approved scheme requires demolition of existing buildings and structures across the site and replaces them with two interlocking massed forms in each building, stepping to different heights. In the affordable housing block, the massing terminates at 23 and 27 storeys. The co-living building is designed with occupiable floors stepping to 39 and 42 storeys.
Co-living continues to sit awkwardly alongside conventional housing metrics, so London Plan counting rules matter as much as unit totals. Under the 1.8:1 approach used for shared living bedrooms, 843 co-living rooms are treated as the equivalent of 468 conventional homes for housing target purposes. Combined with the 153 affordable homes, that produces a net additional housing figure that is materially lower than the headline room count, even though the construction scope remains that of a near-1,000-unit residential project.
At ground level, the consent includes a pocket park and landscaped public space, a community hub of 161 sq m within the affordable housing building, and a café and workspace element. The proposals also include pedestrian and access changes intended to improve permeability through the site and connections to surrounding streets.
The strategic development committee voted unanimously in favour of granting permission, subject to conditions and planning obligations, clearing the scheme to move into detailed design, procurement planning, and early enabling preparation ahead of demolition and main works.
