The developer, which is part of a consortium that controls 190 acres at the Dome, has teamed up with the London Development Agency (LDA) to buy the facility in North Woolwich Road, Silvertown. The plant is located on 12.6 acres on the south side of the river.

The purchasers are paying £13 million ($21.9 million) for the land, which does not have planning consent, and propose a long-term redevelopment of the entire site. It will lease the site back to Carlsberg-Tetley for three years with an option for the brewer to extend the lease. The acquisition is part of the LDA's remit to regenerate run-down areas across London and the Thames Gateway.

Nick Shattock, Quintain's property director said: "We have been working very closely with the LDA at Wembley and we are delighted to now have the opportunity to formalise a joint venture with them on a strategic site in the Thames Gateway." He added: "We take it as a sign of our continuing progress in the regeneration field that the LDA was prepared to move at such unusual speed for a public body in securing this strategic site. It was only five weeks ago that we approached them."

Quintain now own or control 257 acres of key opportunity areas identified in the London Plan. The company has adopted an acquisition strategy of buying up sites early, without planning consents and using existing resources to take proposals for the land through the planning system.

FPD Savills acted for Quintain and the LDA; Gerald Eve acted for Carlsberg-Tetley.