Long-delayed plans for more tall towers on Deptford Creek could be revived, with Lewisham Council set to sell a portion of land to the insurance giant Legal & General.
Councillors had approved plans from the developers Kitewood and Galliard to build 393 flats in 26 and 30-storey towers at Copperas Street in November 2020.
The scheme – next door to the 23-storey Union Wharf development on the Greenwich side of the border – also included an extension to the Trinity Laban dance college next door, which at the time was said to be vital for the institution’s future.
But the scheme was never rubber-stamped by council officials after Trinity Laban failed to sign a Section 106 agreement, a deal which sets out what the developer will provide the council and the wider public. The planning permission was never formally issued and a council deal to sell land to Kitewood expired in November 2024.
Now L&G has stepped forward to pick up the scheme. Next week Lewisham councillors will discuss a deal to sell a plot of land – which once served as a recycling yard – to L&G to enable the scheme to take place.
According to papers to go to Lewisham’s elected mayor, Brenda Dacres, and her cabinet on Wednesday, L&G is planning 550 build-to-rent homes, with social-rent housing to be built on the council’s parcel of land.
As well as the social-rent homes, in return Lewisham would be given a long lease of a ground-floor commercial unit on the site. Trinity Laban has pulled out altogether.
“The disposal will enable new residential density and active ground-floor uses along Copperas Street, supporting the Creekside creative cluster and the wider Deptford / Greenwich economy,” Lewisham officers say in the papers.
If this scheme goes ahead, it would finally complete the redevelopment of land off Creek Road which began with the submission of a masterplan for the “Creekside Village” area to both Lewisham and Greenwich councils 20 years ago.
The first blocks of Creekside Village West – eight to 17-storey buildings branded “Greenwich Creekside” despite being on the Deptford side of the creek – were completed in 2011. Lewisham approved its side of the project, part of Creekside Village East, but the developer went into receivership.
A later application in 2015 was thrown out on appeal, but the planning inspector had no objection to tall buildings on the site – in part because Greenwich had approved Union Wharf, and also because City Hall planning policies encourage tall buildings in the area around the creek. A 27-storey block at Ravensbourne Wharf, on the other side of the creek, was approved by Greenwich in 2023 and a number of towers have been built or are under construction on both sides of the border.
But the L&G plans could still meet objections from Greenwich Council. Since Liverpool was stripped of its world heritage site status in 2021, following the approval of Everton’s new football stadium, Greenwich has become more wary about approving tall buildings within sight of its historic town centre, which also has the coveted Unesco status.
Last summer, plans for 13 and 17-storey student towers on the north side of Creek Road were rejected, in part because of fears for the effect on views from Greenwich Park. That developer has appealed to planning inspectors, the result of which could have a bearing on the Copperas Street scheme.
Lewisham would only sell the land if L&G wins planning permission for the site. The full papers can be found on the Lewisham Council website.
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