Lewisham shopping centre rebuild could start in 2026

Developer Landsec U&I have released the latest financial results today with mention of their plan to demolish and rebuild Lewisham shopping centre.

The proposal would see both the centre and car park demolished with the Citibank tower refurbished. Some High Street buildings such as that housing Wetherspoon’s will also possibly go.

In their place would be new shops with “up to 1,700 residential dwellings, 475 shared living homes and 700 student homes”.

Update

Annual financial results and an adjacent report released by Developer Landsec provide a bit of their latest thinking. In the past reports have provided a snapshot into site plans beyond what was in public consultations.

It’s how we found out total housing numbers were around 2,500 rather than 1,700. The 1,700 figure in public consultation excluded student flats and co-living units.

The report out today states: “At Lewisham, south-east London, and Glasgow we are evolving our plans to focus more on masterplans that can be delivered in discrete incremental phases.

“Alongside this we will seek to embrace opportunities to retain and reinvent existing buildings in our ambition to reduce embodied carbon”.

Whether that means plans to demolish certain buildings will be revised remains to be seen. As stated before, certain High Street buildings though not all were in line for demolition.

In terms of timing it states the earliest start on site for redeveloping the shopping centre would be 2026.

Funding

Incremental development is no great surprise and it’s believed work would start at the north closest to Lewisham station and the imminent Lewisham Gateway phase two opening.

That end of the site is set for an open air entrance offering a through-route to the High Street bypassing the police station and clocktower.

With the soon to open pedestrian-only route through Lewisham Gateway it will mean people can reach the High Street from the station almost entirely away from the roadside except for one crossing.

The report also mentions a project in Finchley and that planning was awarded for 1,800-homes “with site enabling works starting later this year, ahead of potential start of main project in 2025”.

It then adds: “The significant size of our medium-term London and mixed-use pipelines means it is unlikely that we will fund all of this on our own balance sheet, so we will explore opportunities to access other, complementary sources of capital to help accelerate the delivery of these opportunities.”

Which suggests progress at Lewisham is dependent on finding a partner.

An outline application with detailed plans for the first stage are possible this year, with approval then targeted in 2025.

Running a site takes much time and cost a lot of money. Adverts are far from enough to cover it and my rent.