The house builder has struck a deal to buy the 6-acre former Abbey Retail Park site, which fronts onto the river Roding, a tributary of the River Thames.

It plans to build more than 1,000 homes in a mix of tenures alongside riverside shops and gastro-pub space with a pedestrian promenade.

Weston Homes intend to submit a full planning application this summer, which will be the largest submitted to Be First, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham’s pioneering urban regeneration company.

If permission is granted, construction will start on site during 2019.

It will be the company’s eighth residential development in the east London Borough.

Bob Weston, Chairman & Chief Executive of Weston Homes says: “The regeneration of this important Gateway site into a new waterfront urban village adjacent to Barking Town Centre forms part of the Borough Council’s vision of bringing aspirational waterfront living and regeneration to Barking.

“The Abbey Retail Park is within the so-called “Barking Smile regeneration zone” and the redevelopment of the site will create a vibrant new community in Barking, contributing to the area’s ongoing transformation.”

The redeveloped site will be complete with waterfront promenade