London finds use for its derelict plots

London: London’s mayoral office has agreed to redevelop a 50-acre derelict plot near the British capital’s City airport into a district packed with retailers but no traditional shops.

The Silvertown Quays scheme, which will be built by British developers Chelsfield Properties and First Base, will house so-called “brand pavilions” that are more interactive exhibitions than shops and try to tap into a growing trend to buy online. The site will be worth £1.5 billion ($2.3 billion) when complete.

“These pavilions will also allow global brands to influence the online spending decisions of customers, which will be worth up to a total value of £221 billion by 2016,” said Elliot Lipton, managing director of First Base.

The consortium has yet to sign any deals, a spokeswoman for the developers said.

Similar showrooms include Guinness’s Storehouse brewery in Dublin, Ireland, and Samsung’s former 10,000 square foot space in New York’s Time Warner Centre. The plan comes as retailers and mall owners grapple with the growing popularity of online shopping. Many brands are opening fewer but larger stores that can serve as venues for promotional events, while shopping centre owners are including more leisure facilities to lure customers out of their homes.

Silvertown Quays will also contain more than 1,500 homes, restaurants and other leisure facilities, the partnership said. Work on the first phase of the site will begin in 2014-15 and the first businesses will move in 2017.

The office of London’s mayor has been working to secure deals to regenerate derelict sites around its eastern waterways after last year’s Olympic Games and last month signed a deal with a Chinese developer to develop another Docklands plot into the British capital’s third financial district.