Plans for a new creative district on the site of the former Royal Arsenal munitions factory at Woolwich in South East London have been approved.
Greenwich Council has agreed to invest £31m to bring several landmark historic buildings back into use.
This will include a 450-seat theatre, a performance courtyard and 10 rehearsal studios at the Woolwich development in south-east London.
Now the council is inviting tenders for the provision of architect-led design team to lead the development of the design for the 170,000 sq ft creative hub. Prequalification documents are due back next month.
Phase one works are expected to following the appointment of a contractor in July 2018 to allow tenants to occupy the building in 2019.
If Phase Two is approved at a later date it is anticipated that construction will start after 2021.
In council documents, officers said the development would reinforce “changing perceptions” of the area as a destination and provide “a purpose” for people to use Crossrail to visit Woolwich.
It added: “The total useable space is comparable, if not larger, than the creative space provided in the South Bank Centre”.
Services on Crossrail, or the Elizabeth Line, are due to begin next year.
The Royal Arsenal was a large gun and ammunitions manufacturing site before 1914, when it expanded to service the World War One effort.
It had its own internal railway system and employed more than 80,000 workers.
Royal Arsenal Woolwich in the 19th Century
The Ministry of Defence released the Royal Arsenal for development in 1997.
Greenwich Council has secured the lease on four buildings, including a former cartridge factory.
Mr Bull, a member of Royal Arsenal Historical Society, said it was the “UK’s greatest ever factory – an extraordinarily important site which really should not be forgotten”.
