Hundreds of residents who were moved out of the Lewisham Gateway development face another 12 months away from their new homes following a flood that knocked out water and power supplies.
More than 400 people had to move out of The Filigree, the development’s second phase, in February last year after a burst water pipe flooded the basement of its energy centre. The development had only opened four months before.
The developer, Get Living, had previously suggested that residents would be able to move back this month, but it announced on social media on Thursday evening that they would now have to stay away until October next year.
A new energy centre will have to be built. The delay could have been even longer – Get Living said the replacement would not need approval from the government’s Building Safety Regulator, increasing the chances that the latest date will be kept.
Residents have been able to live in other Get Living developments at no extra cost, live elsewhere and suspend their rent payments, or break their tenancies and leave.
The news is the latest blow for a development which earlier this year was a joint winner of the Carbuncle Cup for ugly architecture, with the chair of judges branding it an “overdeveloped hellscape”.
The Filigree consists of 530 flats, including at 424 market rent and 106 homes at London Living Rent, a form of “affordable” housing where rent is set at about one third of average local income. There are also 119 co-living spaces, where tenants share amenities like kitchens.
The Lewisham Gateway project was a key scheme for Lewisham Council when it was under Labour control, and had been 20 years in the making, as roads, rivers and a bus station needed to be moved to free up the space. The first phase, which is not affected by the problems, opened in 2016.
A nine-screen cinema is due to open next year, while Get Living has said that Sainsbury’s and a Stars Gym will also open. No dates have been set for their arrival.
But the sheer bulk of the development, and the lack of any form of social housing, has brought it sharp criticism. Catherine Slessor, the chair of the Carbuncle Cup jury, told Architects’ Journal that “the only thing ‘filigree-like’ about the Filigree is its perforated metal balustrades, applied like glitzy smears of lipstick on a gorilla”.
Liam Shrivastava, now the elected mayor of Lewisham, said last year when he was still a backbench Green councillor, that the development “symbolised the litany of housebuilding failures in Lewisham”.
Lewisham Council declined to comment on the latest delay to the scheme.
A Get Living spokesperson told The Greenwich Wire: “We are pleased to share that works are now under way on site to rebuild the energy centre, marking an important step towards getting the neighbourhood back up and running and ultimately welcoming residents back to their homes.
“Earlier this year, we announced that reopening would require approval from the government’s Building Safety Regulator, which added time to the overall programme. We can now confirm that this approval is no longer required, allowing works to move forward on site.
“We know how important it is for residents to see the neighbourhood moving forward after such a long and challenging period, and we hope this update provides some reassurance that progress is being made. We will continue to share updates as the works develop, including further timelines and key milestones as the programme progresses.”
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