Hundreds of flats could replace the Lewisham College campus at Deptford Bridge, with the developer promising to open up hidden views of Deptford Creek to the public.

RER London has bought the site from the college’s owner, with its students moving to the main campus on Lewisham Way. Goldsmiths University also has currently some of its students based on the site, which opened in the mid-1980s.

Locals have been given tours of the site this week as RER London works on its plans, which could include about 800 flats as well as commercial space. Historically the land was wharves and mills, with the basin of the creek kept out of public view.

However, the developer plans to open up the site to the public as a through route between Greenwich High Road and Deptford Church Street. The site includes an island in the creek as well as a pair of weirs that mark the point where it becomes the River Ravensbourne.

Battered 1980s buildings with old mill behind
A public square would be in front of Mumford’s Mill. Image: The Greenwich Wire
Old riverside mill building
The 18th-century mill sits next to the college site and the creek. Image: The Greenwich Wire

The Docklands Light Railway viaduct was carefully threaded through the site in the late 1990s – with one building just centimetres away from the track – but the new buildings would be set further back, with no flats below the level of the railway.

The site straddles Lewisham and Greenwich boroughs – the border between the two runs down the creek at this point – and RER London will need approval from both councils as well as the mayor of London before it can go ahead with the project.

Tables and chairs in what looks like a car park
Lewisham College students are to move to Lewisham Way this summer. Image: The Greenwich Wire
Big red-brick building
The college opened as the Deptford Skillcentre in the 1980s. Image: The Greenwich Wire

While the Greenwich side makes up just a third of the land, it includes what may become the most contentious aspect of the scheme, as early plans indicate that the long-closed Greenwich Inn pub on Greenwich High Road, which dates back 220 years, could face demolition for a vehicle access route. The pub served its last pint in 2008.

A public square would feature beneath the 18th-century Mumford’s Mill, which was converted into flats two decades ago and sits next to the creek and the college site, while a large sewer on the Lewisham side restricts what can be built on the north of the site. 

Deptford basin boats
Boats are moored between the Bird’s Nest and the college site. Image: The Greenwich Wire

Developing the site means more new neighbours for the creek’s boat-dwellers, who live quietly behind the Bird’s Nest pub – which itself is the subject of development plans.

RER London is asking locals for ideas at deptfordbridge.co.uk, while for those who want to see the creek close up, the Creekside Discovery Centre runs regular low tide walks to the basin.