DevAssist: The hotel that isn’t a building – what every waterfront buyer needs to know
On 21 April 2026, Newham Council unanimously approved a 233-room floating hotel on the River Thames. Five storeys high. Permanently moored. And, according to the Court of Appeal, not technically a building. If you’re buying near water, a dock, or a riverside location, this decision affects you.
Most buyers purchasing a waterfront property imagine open water, light, and the sense of space that justifies the premium. What they don’t anticipate is a five-storey hotel permanently moored in their view – approved by a unanimous council vote, and confirmed by the courts to sit outside the usual framework of development charges.
That is exactly what happened in Canning Town this month. And it is precisely the kind of risk that a standard conveyancing search will not find.
What was approved
Great New Vessel B.V. applied to Newham Council in October 2025 for permission to permanently moor a floating vessel as a 233-room hotel at the Royal Victoria Dock – immediately south of an existing 160-room floating hotel already granted permanent permission in 2023. The new vessel stands 16 metres tall across five storeys. Members approved it unanimously.
The legal backdrop makes it more striking. When the original 160-room scheme sought permanent permission, Newham Council attempted to charge a Community Infrastructure Levy of over £1.6 million – a standard charge applied to new development. The applicant challenged it. In December 2024, the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court ruling that a floating hotel is not a ‘building’ for CIL purposes.
Mrs Justice Lang reached back to an 1859 judgment to explain why:
“What is a ‘building’? … a ship or a barge-builder is said to build a ship or a barge … but neither of these, when constructed, can be called a ‘building’.”
1859 court judgment, cited in Mrs Justice Lang’s High Court ruling
In plain terms: a floating structure can be granted permanent planning permission, change the character of a waterway, and block the view from your window – and it may not trigger the same alerts, the same charges, or the same scrutiny as a building on land.
Beyond Canning Town
The Thames, the Medway, the Avon, Bristol Harbour, Liverpool’s waterfront – waterways across the country- are being regenerated and floating development is increasingly viable, increasingly permitted, and increasingly permanent. Buyers purchasing riverside apartments and dock-adjacent properties are making decisions based on what they can see today. They are not seeing what has been applied for, what a council’s opportunity area framework has earmarked, or what is already in progress on the water beside them.
A standard conveyancing search covers the registered land. It does not cover the dock. It does not cover the river. It does not cover planning applications for vessels that, by a court’s definition, are not buildings at all.
What a DevAssist report would have found
Nearly half of all DevAssist reports – currently 46% – identify a high-risk development site within 75 metres of the subject property. Some are on land, but many are not.
A buyer purchasing a waterfront flat overlooking the Royal Victoria Dock could have known, before exchange, that a permanent 160-room floating hotel already had consent nearby, and that a further application for a 233-room vessel was in progress. That information does not tell them not to buy. It tells them what they are buying.
The DevAssist position
Planning law was written for land. The courts are now interpreting it for water – and the answers are not always what buyers or their solicitors would expect. A DevAssist report investigates the location, not just the property. It is the only way to know what is coming before you commit. Reports from £145 + VAT. www.devassist.co.uk
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