Are these East End docks the new King's Cross?

Earlier this year, Sadiq Khan launched a bid to transform the Royal Albert Dock with thousands of new jobs and homes, mimicking the successful regeneration of Granary Square. reports

- Ross Lydall

ON a day like this, it's glorious," says Jeremy Rees, surveying the sun-kissed Royal Docks from a footbridge above the water.

To his left is ExCeL, the giant exhibition space and conference centre of which he is chief executive. Ahead of him, to the east, is City Airport, with a plane coming into land on its miniature runway as we speak.

Behind him is the London's new-ish City Hall, opened by Sadiq Khan two years ago to much consternation. Overhanging the Mayor's second-floor office is the cable car that links the Royal Docks with North Greenwich and the O2 arena.

And to his right is a remarkable landmark: Millennium Mills, a derelict former flour mill, upon which the dreams of many hang. It sits at the heart of a hugely ambitious regeneration project that could yet turn this former industrial area into the capital's next King's Cross.

The aim is for 36,000 new homes and 55,000 new jobs to be created over the next 20 years. The Royal Victoria and the Royal Albert docks-divided by the Connaught road bridge-will form the centrepiece. To the south lies the Thames and the Thames Barrier.

"There's a huge amount going on here but it can be a little bit hidden away," admits Tom Copley, Mr Khan's deputy mayor for housing.

How true. Visitors to City Hall - and those who work there - may occasionally enjoy a coffee at Perky Blenders or a post-work drink on the Good Hotel's sun-deck. But otherwise the best on offer can be a meal deal from Tesco Express or a baked potato from the City Hall café; not exactly the image of a thriving city that any mayor would wish to portray.

It's a far contrast to the tourist buzz that grew around the former City Hall, boosted by Bermondsey Street, Borough Market and the transformed London Bridge train station all becoming destinations in their own right.