280,000 homes could be created above London rail tracks, says the Shard engineer

Investors on the hunt for London property opportunities should look up, according to the engineer behind the Shard skyscraper, which on Tuesday claimed there is scope for 280,000 homes to be built above railway tracks.

A study from engineering construction firm WSP, which has also worked on the redevelopment of London Bridge station, has identified space above Tube and overground lines. New structures could be built over the lines for houses to sit on.

The study looked at the area of land associated with all exposed rail tracks in Zones 1-6.

It said if a conservative 10% of this total was delivered it would provide 280,000 new homes, assuming that buildings would be 12 storeys high.

The company, working with UCL’s department of civil, environmental and geomatic engineering, calculated that Brent, Ealing and Croydon are among the boroughs with the most “overbuild” potential, while more centrally Wandsworth and Hammersmith & Fulham also have a number of opportunities.

WSP director Bill Price said the research “brings us another step closer to unlocking the extraordinary potential rail overbuild can provide, not just for London but in cities across the world”.