Source: Mayor of London
Matthew Carpen, a highly experienced development leader, has been appointed to the role of Chief Executive of the Mayor of London’s Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC), which is delivering London’s largest brownfield development opportunity around the new High Speed 2 station at Old Oak Common.
Matthew has a long background in strategic planning and infrastructure delivery having spent 22 years working in London on major projects. He is currently Managing Director of Barking Riverside Limited (BRL), a joint venture between the Mayor of London and L&Q. In post at Barking Riverside, Matthew has overseen a new masterplan set to deliver up to 20,000 homes and has secured over £300m in public and private investment for this key part of East London, alongside delivering a new transport interchange used by thousands of people each day from a growing community of 3,500 new homes.
Matthew has been a Board Member of OPDC since 2022 and is a member of the organisation’s Development, Investment and Sustainability Committee. His appointment follows an open and competitive procurement process that was launched following the announcement that current CEO, David Lunts, will step down after six years in the role.
OPDC is the Mayor of London’s statutory regeneration and planning authority, taking forward development opportunities on 650 hectares of land in Old Oak and Park Royal in West London. Over the next 25 years, it will create a whole new district for London with a mix of homes, employment space, high streets, community facilities and high-quality public realm, built around the new HS2 station at Old Oak Common. Old Oak Common Station will be the only interchange between HS2, the Elizabeth line and the Great Western mainline, and will connect to Heathrow and Bond Street in ten minutes.
The first stage of the project will deliver around 9,000 homes and 11,000 jobs across approximately 70 acres of publicly owned land. With an estimated gross development value (GDV) of £10bn, the project has secured over £300m of public funding to date. Later this year, OPDC will commence procurement for a long-term development and investment partnership to support the regeneration of Old Oak.
Matthew joins OPDC’s established leadership team under the newly appointed Chair of the OPDC Board, Dame Karen Buck.