Big-budget public renovations are, in theory, an exciting prospect: shiny new shopfronts, independent eateries and (gasp!) a promise of affordable housing on the horizon.
Speaking of such, we have some news for you: plans to shake-up Lewisham shopping centre have now been formally submitted for council permission. The £1.3 billion project will be part-demolishing, part-converting the concrete metropolis built in 1977 into a sprawling new site with plenty of homes and shops. We’ve waded through the paperwork of the spanking-new planning application to reveal what south London might have in store.
Back in 2023 we reported on the first whiff of Lewisham’s spectacular glow-up, when plans for a new high street and thousands of homes were announced by LandsecU+I. (No, that’s not the name of some tech bro’s latest offspring, but the regeneration branch of Landsec, the current owners of Lewisham Shopping Centre.)
The plan is to keep the streets brimming with local businesses and make them totally pedestrianised with plenty of cycleways. The proposal even includes a public meadow the ‘size of a football field’ on the shopping centre’s roof. Ambitious, sure, but developers said they’re aiming to provide precious public green space and let locals frolic to their hearts’ content (just hopefully not too close to the edge).
Last month we dropped the first look pictures of Lewisham’s Shopping Centre following the initial demolition plans being submitted. These include knocking down the old Argos to make way for a food market and music space so locals can boogie all the way to the bakery.
In the latest update, LandsecU+I has formally submitted a huge planning application with a 17-acre ‘masterplan’ to basically make a new town centre for Lewisham. The company is hoping to build 1,700 new homes as well as 445 co-living properties and up to 660 beds for students too.
Thousands of borough residents are acutely affected by the housing crisis
Like most of the capital, housing in Lewisham is a big issue. We all know how hard it is to bag a decent rental: the manic phone calls to estate agents, cyberbullying your housemate to get their deposit sorted before your dream flat is snapped up. Lewisham is no different. The council has more than 10,000 families on its waiting list as of October this year and 2,700 are stuck in temporary accommodation.
Will LandsecU+I’s big project help tackle the issue? The developers certainly think so. They’ve told planners that six percent of the new homes would be reserved as social housing, and 14 percent designated as ‘affordable’, meaning that rents will be no more than 28 percent of wages. LandsecU+I reckon this means the development will provide much-needed affordable homes for local people, specifically key workers like teachers and nurses.
But not everyone is convinced. Citizens UK is a campaign group working on issues including housing and public investment. Erica Scott, the group’s Community Organiser for Lewisham & Greenwich, said to Time Out that ‘thousands of borough residents are acutely affected by the housing crisis.
‘While aspects of these development plans are promising, a much more extensive investment in social rent properties and genuinely affordable housing is needed to address the deeper roots of this crisis,’ Scott said.
So, will the development really provide much-needed affordable homes for Lewisham locals? Or is the injection of cold hard cash welcome anyway to spruce up empty shop fronts and tackle recent local venue closures? Either way, we’ll have to wait and see what the council makes of the plans.
We can expect the proposal to be reviewed properly next year. If all goes to plan, construction will start in 2026 and the project will take around 10 years to complete.
