Bids invited for Docklands project

BIDS are to be invited early next month for nearly 40,000sq ft of hotel space on a massive site within the London Docklands.

The 142-acre dockland development, adjacent to the London City Airport, is to be marketed after a five-year delay.

The mixed-use site on Royal Victoria Dock was originally to go ahead in 1989, but the recession killed demand and the plans, which were approved by the then secretary of state for the environment, Nicholas Ridley, in 1988, were put on ice.

But the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) has now decided that the site, which includes space for an exhibition centre or sports arena, can be marketed next month.

A report produced forthe LDDC by accountancy company Touche Ross confirmed that there would be sufficient demand for the project and the facilities it would provide.

The 600,000sq m outline plan includes 1,747 housing units plus two hotels providing a total of 700 bedrooms, shops, leisure facilities, and a "significant restaurant presence".

A detailed development brief will be available from the LDDC next month.