DEVELOPERS at Paddington Basin in West London are poised to submit plans for a £700 million office, shopping and housing project that would be one of the biggest new developments in the capital, The Times has learnt.

Paddington Development Corporation, owned by Pearcroft, a private property group connected to Bruce Jarvis, the multimillionaire Labour donor, and a joint venture between the billionaire Reuben brothers and Multiplex, the Australian property group, is proposing a 1.8 million sq ft development, spanning six buildings.

The development is planned for land that had been earmarked for the Paddington Health Campus, which was set to become the country’s biggest private finance initiative hospital scheme, before the collapse of the project last year.

It also replaces an earlier commercial scheme, which had included the Grand Union building, a 650,000 sq ft office tower designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership.

The new planning application to Westminster City Council includes a mix of offices and shops as well as 559 homes, of which 30 per cent will be social housing. The project has been named Merchant Square to reflect the area’s past as a key trading area.

The developers have already had discussions with Westminster Council and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment about the scheme, but it is the first time the details of the project have been made public.

It is expected that planning permission will be granted by the end of this year and construction work will start on site in 2007.

The Reuben brothers and Multiplex acquired a 50 per cent stake in the Paddington Development Corporation after teaming up with Westfield, the Australian shopping centre giant, to bid for Chelsfield, the property group.

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