Tfl x Ballymore, Limmo Peninsula: Turning a former Crossrail pit into a 1,400-home waterfront neighbourhood

A hole in the ground with a new future

For years the five-hectare Limmo Peninsula, tucked between Bow Creek and the River Lea opposite Canning Town station, was little more than a 30-metre-deep shaft where Elizabeth-line tunnel-boring machines began their eastbound journey. Now that pit is set to disappear under a new neighbourhood after Transport for London’s property arm Places for London picked Ballymore as its 50:50 development partner in June 2025.

What the scheme will deliver

• Around 1,400 homes, with 40 % classed as “genuinely affordable.”
• A new pedestrian and cycle bridge linking the peninsula directly to Canning Town station.
• A mile of riverside walkway and a child-friendly green spine running the length of the site.
• Buildings that step up from eight storeys on the water’s edge to about 30 storeys beside the DLR viaduct, designed by Howells with landscape by LDA Design.

Why TfL cares so much

TfL is one of London’s biggest landowners, sitting on roughly 5,700 acres spread across more than 3,000 sites – most of them awkward slivers beside tracks, depots and stations. Unlocking those plots is critical to its plan to raise non-fare income for the network and to hit City Hall’s housing targets. Limmo is the flagship: prove this can work and dozens of smaller sites can follow.

How the deal is structured

TfL rolls its land into the joint venture at existing-use value, taking a share of future profits instead of an upfront receipt – money that can be recycled into transport. Ballymore brings cash equity, design expertise and delivery capacity. Once outline consent is in place (target Q2 2026), the partnership will line up senior construction debt and, if the market softens, slice in mezzanine finance to keep leverage below 60 % of total cost.

Conclusion: Bigger than one site

Limmo isn’t just another Docklands scheme. It physically stitches together the emerging Royal Docks housing arc – Royal Wharf, Silvertown, Thameside West – and offers a live test case of how public bodies can team up with specialist developers to turn complex engineering legacies into neighbourhoods’ people actually want to live in. If the planning process runs smoothly, expect TfL to accelerate pending disposals at Kidbrooke, Southwark and Beckton Riverside.