London Square is still waiting for approval from the Building Safety Regulator to start work on the Lee Green development on the site of the former Leegate shopping centre.
The Regulator has to approve the plans for all “higher risk buildings” (basically blocks of flats higher than 7 storeys or 18 metres) before construction work can start.
In the three months to the end of June the regulator was taking around 22 weeks to approve new projects. It made 368 decisions (out of around 1,500 applications in the system) – more than half for the developments in London. On that basis it looks unlikely work will start at Lee Green before October.
The site is now completely clear and the hardcore created by the demolition teams has been spread across the area, The first task for the builders will be “piling” – installing the piles which sit on rock well below the surface to support the new buildings.
Meanwhile London Square has confirmed to the Lee Manor Society that they plan to start building their marketing suite in the next three weeks. The suite which will be at the junction of Eltham Road and Burnt Ash Road will include a mock up of one of the private sale flats, complete with running water, so potential buyers can see what they will be like.