Major Deptford housing project grinds to halt – and leaves a mess behind

A major development in Deptford that goes by the name Deptford Landings after numerous rebranding efforts has halted with barely a quarter of homes built. Lendlease are behind the project for an eventual 1,132 homes where a three bed flat costs £711,000.

Courtesy Google

Now swaths of land lie empty despite a housing crises as developers struggle to sell highly priced flats . Failure to sell predates the pandemic. It appears prices are simply too high. Numerous government intervention and props, apparently designed to help, instead push prices beyond the reach of many people who live and work in London. Transport links aren’t the best. The developer states “as well as being no more than a 30 minute walk to the nearest train, tube, or ship”. That length of walk isn’t a selling point!

Timberyard site. Very slow build times as only a quarter built

It’s yet another plot where developers insisted action needed to be taken by authorities to speed up building. Action was taken – in this case Compulsory Purchase Order by Lewisham Council on a parcel of land to the west – and then no homes have been built. I covered the use of CPOs over three and a half years ago.

Courtesy @EverestDeptford Builders have vacated the site – but left paths blocked

The same happened down the road at Convoys Wharf. Boris Johnson called in the project when mayor as a decision was “urgent”. Six years on and no new homes have yet begun on site.

At Deptford Landing pavements are fenced off despite no building work being undertaken for some time.

Proposed tower on site

The promotional material on the development’s website contains some curious claims. Click on transport and it states:

“£80 MILLION TRANSPORT UPGRADE. The already bustling Deptford High Street will be enhanced and refurbished for a great London shopping experience.”

Perhaps they mean the years old work on the High Street which is now pretty tatty and certainly never cost £80 million? This is misleading at best.

Only buildings at top left completed after 6+ years

Lendlease are behind the development. They have recently partnered with Peabody in Thamesmead. A Peabody site at the former Tavy Bridge has the developer attempting to sell flats for a minimum of £537,300. They previously attempted to portray a Thamesmead development site opposite Belmarsh as being near Greenwich Park.

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J Smith

I've lived in south east London most of my life growing up in Greenwich borough and working in the area for many years. The site has contributors on occasion and we cover many different topics. Living and working in the area offers an insight into what is happening locally.

7 thoughts on “Major Deptford housing project grinds to halt – and leaves a mess behind

  • I suppose people never learn the simple truth…Builders are not a Charity…they are not working for a Community…the only thing that concerns them is self interest
    They will try and minimise spending money on any Development….they will try and maximise the price of flats and houses….
    What surprises me is that anyone is surprised
    Councils still treat them as Gods….

    Reply
    • ‘They will try and minimise spending money on any Development …’. Except it is not working. Developers are now finding that there are no buyers for their overpriced, shoddily built properties.

      The pandemic has made things worse with people losing their employment and thus not able to buy. I think some building firms are going to go bust.

      Reply
    • If only builders actually made some money to be honest the average profit is up to a maximum of 3 and a half percent of the total cost. Keeping everybody working onsite comfortable and safe costs the main contractor over 250000 pound particularly on large projects. This has been further inflated making sites safe to work on within the pandemic. Then you factor in tbe salaries paid out for the management team.So you might say we are making miracles happen much like a god Roy. However this does not by any means mean we are perfect and more could be done around wasted materials. The supply chain tend to sell more than is needed to contractors just so they become cheaper and there commissions become higher. Though the other big focus is contractors being paid on price as they just want to make the money on meters and leave the tough difficult bits for others which tend to pick up the slack but at a cost to quality.

      Reply
      • Barratt Developments had a projected pre-tax profit of £910m to the year ending 30 June 2019. I don’t believe any of your apologia on behalf of the construction industry.

        Reply
  • The block isn’t even close to Evelyn Street, but I suppose one could walk to Surrey Quays in about 30 minutes if you wanted to ignore the buses. Talk about knowing absolutely nothing about the area. Eyeroll.

    Reply
  • Pepys Community Forum lost the warehouse Units 3, 4 & 5 on the site of Victoria Wharf, one of 5 wharves. With no compensation. The Victoria Hall built in the 19th century got demolished yet argued for the preservation of the Victoria Pub. Made a community management bid for the pub that was then eventually rejected. Objected to the low quality of the redevelopment, yet it got passed unanimously by LB Lewisham Planning with a hybrid scheme of part outline and part full planning permission. Lendlease are now not themselves happy with quality of their own build out of the first phase, after many construction delays. The scheme has been paused for 2 years or more, with an intention to have a major meanwhile use, which has still to be fulfilled. Even so, there are planning revisions for 2 more high towers, and a separate (but related) application for converting the feature building of Scott House by ‘death masking’ into another high tower. The latter has gone back to the GLA for a decision after numerous local objections.

    Reply
  • Pingback: Goodbye, Catford? When planners label your childhood haunt an â?oOpportunity Areaâ??

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