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Leegate – London Square site manager explains how the work will be carried out

London Square’s drawing of how the development will look from Burnt Ash Road

Victor Bellamy, the Senior Site Manager for London Square’s operations south of the river, is hugely enthusiastic about the Leegate development.  He says “It’s going to be absolutely stunning.”

A cynic might think ‘he would say that, wouldn’t he’?  And there are plenty of Lee residents who don’t agree and are appalled by the height of the main tower, and the overall design of the development.

Victor, however, is genuinely anxious to build good relations with the local community.  He and Aidan Pritchard, the Project Director, have offered to come to a public meeting in January so they can explain how the demolition and building phases of the development will be managed.

“I like to engage with local people, purely and simply because you find the lay of the land and you find out what’s going on,” Victor told the Lee Manor Society.  It was Victor who told his bosses the name Blackheath Gate would play badly in Lee. The firm is now reviewing it.  

Now that Lewisham planners have approved London Square’s new proposals for Leegate, Victor and his colleagues are working on the timeline for the development.

“Soft stripping” of easily removable items is already underway. Victor Bellamy expects scaffolding to start being erected in the next few days so the ‘hard demolition’ can get going. The existing buildings will be covered while the asbestos removal and demolition is carried out. He says there is actually very little asbestos in the site; mainly in the old toilets, but the site will be pressurised to ensure that asbestos can’t escape outside.

London Square is also in discussion with Transport for London about the fate of two trees which TfL planted and want preserved (as does the Lee Manor Society). We will aim to discover the outcome of those discussions.

The demolition team will start in the front corner at the Lee Green crossroads and work its way back. Victor expects demolition to be completed fairly quickly – by the spring – because the existing Leegate buildings are mostly single-skin and won’t put up much resistance. Much of the rubble will be crushed and kept for hardcore in the new development.

A major challenge is fears about water mains bursting once the buildings are demolished. “Obviously, if you’ve got a building site on top of a water pipe for 20 years, and you take it off, that’s going to expand and explode,” he says.  Thames Water are conducting tests at the moment to come up with solutions.

Electrical power to the site has already been diverted and BT are busy dealing with communications connections. There is already ground penetration drilling continuing, to confirm there is no WW2 ordnance remaining.

What about noise and disruption to local residents?  Working hours on the site will be 8 am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. If they work on Saturdays, they will finish by 1pm. Victor admits there will be noise, he is sorry but he can’t do anything about it.  There will be phone numbers on the gates for residents to call if there is an emergency.  

Lorries coming out of the site will have to go through wheel scrubs to reduce the amount of mud they take out onto the roads. 

At full tilt, there will be around 150 workers on the site. They will have parking inside the cordon so they don’t take up space on nearby roads (ironic when you consider that the residents of the finished development won’t get anywhere to park, apart from Blue Badge holders).

Once the demolition is underway London Square intends to erect a sales office on the corner at the Lee Green crossroads.

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The Community Garden – new dates and new pictures

The Lee Community Garden has announced new dates for its winter sessions. You can find them on the Community Garden page. Meanwhile here are some pictures the volunteers took at their most recent session.

Dan Griffin sent through this update:

Ann, Farrah and new recruit Lara had a productive time yesterday at the recent session (Sunday 16th November). Lots of leaves were cleared and collected for mulch, all beds were weeded and we harvested carrots and Jerusalem artichokes. A very Christmassy Robin, whom we have called Ruby, made several appearances on the fence.

It was also good to meet new recruits James and Martha, who hope to be at the next session.

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New Leegate development is approved by Lewisham Planners

London Square has won permission from Lewisham planners for their plans for Leegate. The development of 620 homes, which includes a 17-storey tower at the Lee Green crossroads, was approved by the council’s Strategic Planning Committee.

The Committee overruled objectors, including the Lee Manor Society, Lee Forum and a Leyland Road resident Emma Warren, as well as Lee Green councillor James Rathbone. All argued that the proposed tower would be too high.

Lee Manor Society said although it welcomed the development, and the new homes it would bring, the unsightly 17-storey tower at the Lee Green crossroads would dominate and dwarf low-rise homes on its doorstep.

Cllr Rathbone highlighted London Square’s poor record of communication and consultation with Lee residents, including the firm’s sudden announcement that the development would be named Blackheath Gate, even though it is in Lee Green.

“Blackheath Gate was absolutely typical of this. It was a sudden announcement with no notification, no consultation, no input, which was subject to widespread mockery locally,” he said.

Although the naming decision is now on hold, Cllr Rathbone continued “It is just the latest example of a pattern of behaviour where they have made commitments to the local community about how they will listen, they will engage, they will talk to us, they will take our concerns into account. And then they’ve gone away and done something completely differently based upon whatever they wanted.”

Cllr Rathbone demanded the planners explain the exceptional circumstances to justify the 17-storey tower to the communities in Lee and Blackheath, as Lewisham’s Local Plan says buildings in Lee should normally be no more than 12 storeys.

He said residents were united in the belief that the block was too tall and over-dominant, and would fundamentally change the nature of where we live. The additional two storeys above the original Galliard plan, which was approved two years ago, will only add another 14 homes to the development.

An officer told the committee that although the tower doesn’t comply with the Lewisham Local Plan limit of 12 storeys, that had to be weighed against the public benefit of the scheme which included more significant provision of commercial floor space, housing and affordable housing.

Another councillor, Paul Bell, asked what additional GP provision would come with the development. Although there is a designated medical facility in the plans, an officer confirmed that the space would be leased at a commercial rent. There was no certainty it would be a GP surgery; it could house a dentist or physiotherapist.

Cllr Paul Bell told the meeting “This is a large number of housing units, which are going to have a huge impact on GP provision in the area. If a GP provider doesn’t go into that space because of cost, then it’s going to impact the community.”

Despite the concerns of councillors the committee agreed unanimously to allow the plans to go forward unaltered.

You can watch the whole planning meeting here.

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Now you see it, now you don’t.

Lee residents seem to have secured at least a temporary victory in the battle over Blackheath Gate.

London Square has fulfilled its promise to remove the Blackheath Gate name from the hoarding at the Lee Green crossroads, while it discusses it with its marketing team.

In less than a week the hoarding has gone from being branded Blackheath Gate, quickly defaced by a graffiti artist and then replaced with a blank, black panel.

Community groups under the umbrella of Lee Green Consortium had written to London Square voicing their concerns that the proud name of Lee was being written out.

They made that point that it would be unwise to alienate Lee residents just as they are about to start work on the development, when they will need local buy-in.

London Square says it recognises the importance of local heritage and identity, and values constructive engagement with the community.

The developer’s application to amend the terms of the planning consent, which if passed would allow them to build a 17-storey tower block will be heard by Lewisham Planners on Tuesday November 18th.