Planning permission has been granted for a new £175m 'urban quarter' in the Blackhorse Lane Industrial area in Walthamstow, London by architects Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTEa), on behalf of their client MacDonald Egan.

The mixed-use, residential-led regeneration scheme will transform a declining industrial estate into a thriving community which will include 484 new homes, 519 student accommodation units plus community, retail and commercial space.

Gnome House, a 1930s industrial building will be retained and refurbished as a community gallery and café to stimulate the local, emerging creative industries and act as a focus for the new neighbourhood.

Carl Vann, Director, said: "The existing site and edges have a unique industrial character which we felt shouldn't be muted with a conventional suburban scale. Our approach has been to capture the charm of an evolving, 'working' quarter in the scale and texture of the architecture and landscaping."

The site is located between High Maynard Reservoir and the southern end of Blackhorse Lane, less than two minutes walk from Blackhorse Lane Underground station and is just north of Waltham Forest Town Centre.

The masterplan will create a new tree-lined link from Gnome House running east-west through the site, allowing future public access to the Walthamstow Wetlands, London's largest urban wetland nature reserve.

Flats and maisonettes will be laid out around semi-private courtyards, with affordable homes for families located in a terrace of three and four- bedroom houses and maisonettes with large private outdoor spaces. New retail accommodation fronts onto Blackhorse Lane activating the area closest to the nearby Blackhorse Road station.