Balfour Beatty and Places for People appointed for 1,500-home Olympic Park schemes

The developers have been chosen to bring forward plans for the East Wick and Sweetwater neighbourhoods in the west of the Park. The two sites have planning permission for up to 1,500 new homes, of which up to 30% are proposed to be affordable and 500 are expected to be private homes for rent.

Up to 850 homes, including townhouses, mews houses and apartments, have been proposed for the East Wick neighbourhood near Hackney Wick in the north-west of the Park. Plans for East Wick also include up to 9,000 square metres of employment space, 4,700 sq m of retail and leisure space, a new primary school and two new nurseries.

Sweetwater, in the south-west of the Park, is the proposed location of up to 650 new apartments and family homes, 2,500 sq m of retail space, 1,000 sq m of employment space, a primary school, two nurseries and a health centre.

Leo Quinn, Balfour Beatty Group chief executive, said in a statement: "I look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the LLDC to ensure that commitments made as part of the London 2012 Games are delivered by not only creating new communities but also new jobs, and apprenticeships for young people wanting to join the growing infrastructure sector. With our partner, Places for People, we are very excited to be able to create these new, vibrant, sustainable communities for east London."

David Cowans, chief executive at Places for People, said: "This is east London's moment and it's our big moment too and we are thrilled to have been selected to be part of the transformation of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park."

Development is expected to be completed in 2023.