Woolwich shop demolition plan submitted for new development
Plans have been submitted to demolish shops facing Beresford Square in Woolwich.
The site at 1-4 Beresford Square sits beside the recently completed square revamp and home to Poundstretcher.
Architecturally it seems far better than the somewhat ugly current block on site.
Here’s an evening view as seen in the application’s Design and Access Statement.
A beauty shop beside Poundstretcher also looks in line for closure though the chip shops remains.
It’s set to top out at six floors in height and have an active frontage along Beresford Street as opposed to part of the current block.
Note the new student block rising behind the café building in the above image built on a former toilet block.
Buccleuch Property and Packaged Living are behind the plans at Poundstretcher.
The plan includes a gym despite Woolwich’s new leisure centre being a very short distance away.
Most rooms will be 18 square metres.
Now, coffee shops are popular of course but I’m not sure another is needed as shown on the render given the new cafe just built.
Of course it’s only indicative at this stage. What does seem very likely is Poundstretcher- or shops such as that – will move in.
Income
The new building is set to contain 160 co-living units in total.
This will bring Greenwich Council – and in turn borough residents – less income than standard housing after the council opted for a low rate of Community Infrastructure Levy on co-living developments. A move that’s unique in London (if anyone knows of any other boroughs that’ve done this comments below).
In fact neighbouring Lewisham are seeking CIL rates on co-living at the same level as residential.
Note also student accommodation will not see a lower rate as it does in Greenwich.
With most developments of any scale now underway being student accommodation and co-living, this is costing Greenwich substantial sums.
Co-living developments are proposed borough-wide including Abbey Wood and a neighbouring site at Macbean Street in line for 409 co-living units and 918 student rooms.
Over the road 299 student rooms are now rising with 120 planned next door.
Whilst metres away to the north Riverside House is seeing 600 artists leaving as work is due on converting the building into a hotel and further student rooms.
Click here to view plans.
I’m calling it now and I’ll wager £50 that many of these student and coliving places will be used for homeless individuals and asylum seekers within 5 years. They’re tailor made for it. Developers will make vast profits as the home office and councils come a calling throwing the cash at them. Ironically many of the homeless UK citizens moved into them will themselves have been displaced via the home office buying up many other properties. The tangled web of uk housing where landlords always win out
I’d be interested to know how many of our local councillors are themselves landlords. Surely higher density housing should attract higher Community Infrastructure Levy.
You are not wrong Joe and make some very valid points..
As long as it further improves the area and square I am all for it. However, to be honest being in such a short walk away from the new leisure centrec better use of the ground floor space of the new development could be found instead of a gym.
A gym could possibly go in to the old New Look Store on Powis street recently also vacated by the Job Centre. It is a large space with a lot of space for Equipment and changing rooms.
These torrid developments are testament to the miserable neo-liberal system we live in. Either grown adults in full time work will pay top dollar to live in a tiny room and have no chance to move beyond student housing when well into adulthood or it goes to homeless people who have no chance of a council house. Both are utterly grim realities. I expect New Labour aka Starmer’s party to wave it through. It’s “growth” innit.
👏
People need to organise to get this sham of a “labour” party out. This is their future of housing. A small box. The new party coming on the left offers a change. We’ve seen the greens kick out labour recently in shooters hill so it can be done we just need apathy to go. As a tory party in disguise this labour are gone. tired. yesterdays news.
Look for your local movement with the new party coming together we can get this rotten lot out.
Absolutely @changeisnow. To get change however, people must go out and vote for change at the ballot boxes New homes are small boxes and massively over priced for what they arevto either buy or rent.
I think the new political party being created by Jeremy Corbyn could split the Labour vote as people arecfed are up with the Stanmer”s Labour and their policies.
I’ve noticed a fair few comments lately that wouldn’t look out of place on anything owned by Reach. Not the place for promotion of political parties, there’s enough of that in virtually every other local news forum along the coast. Give Greenwich council the scrutiny it needs, but as Graham says, get out there too and encourage others to do so
👏
I really disagree, younger people are much more open to different types of housing. It’s the older generation than feel everyone needs a big home to call their own and anything less is a future slum etc . The world has moved on, London is often a stop off in peoples careers and they plan to live here for a decade to make their fortune and move on. Thats the way most global cities work. A few friends of mine live in these across the country and are so happy, have forged friendships and like the sustainable way of living.
I can see thousands more of these units popping up – and especially for older people who want to forge a community and live with likeminded people and want to downsize considerably. To write them off as boxes is missing the point – whilst they won’t be appropriate for everyone there is a market for this.
Greenwich council however should be making money from these projects – I don’t understand any of the decisions they make.
There are a lot of older people who would like to downsize to smaller properties which are cheaper to run compared to their larger family homes.
The is a lack of homes available for older people after the council sold off sheltered accommodation sites to private developers. Other housing for older people have been demolished iand not replaced when given planning permission for further new developments in the Borough.
Thanks for the excellent reporting as usual.
New multimillion pound private investment into Woolwich for more housing and in particular a broader housing mix is a good thing- although as mentioned Greenwich Council should be doing more to make sure there’s adequate developer contributions. People enjoy living close to excellent transport and town centre amenities and are willing to sacrifice on space. We live in one of the world’s most desirable cities and there’s an understanding that not everyone can live in a 3 bedroom townhouse with a garden.
Economic conditions aren’t perfect at the moment but there seems to be a groundswell of social media influenced pessimism everywhere to any change- even if it means more housing for the borough and a new attractive building.
That 18 square metres of space will become a foetid swamp box. I foresee a lot of problems with condensation and mould because the developer is going to cut back on proper ventilation that mitigates for those who will not adequately air their rabbit hutch.
It is not only people not adequtely ventilating their homes. If some of the new blocks in Lewisham Gateway are anything to go by with propertiesc flooding etc. Some of the buildings have not be completed to a high standard and have developed faults which have seen some residents having to temporarily move out. As reported previously.