Controversial plans to create a university quarter in Stratford were approved by Newham Council.
The university is proposing the development of 2.4m sq ft of university buildings and 1.5m sq ft of non-UCL residential and public realm space by 2021. This is comparable to its Bloomsbury site in central London.
The project could sustain around 1,000 construction jobs in Newham over a 11-year period, once work begins on the 23-acre site in 2016.
The council must now convince about half the estate’s 700 households to leave the doomed Carpenters Estate site in Stratford ahead of demolition or face being forced out under compulsory purchase orders.
Both the council and UCL aim to have a conditional contract ready for exchange by the end of next year.
Plans to regenerate Carpenters Estate have been on the drawing board since 2000 with several schemes presented to residents since that time.
In 2008, the council unveiled plans to place dilapidated towers at the estate at the heart of a now £800m Local Asset Backed Vehicle, but these had to be cancelled because the investment could not be raised.
University provost Malcolm Grant said: “UCL is a world-leading institution, but our plans for growth are currently limited by our central London location, so we need suitable space to support the development of world class teaching and research.
“UCL Stratford is not envisaged to be an east London satellite to our historic Bloomsbury campus, but a new internationally recognised research-led hub.”
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