PLACE Ladywell is due to be demolished from July 2027. The same report asks the cabinet on 4 November to back compulsory purchase on the Achilles Street estate.

PLACE Ladywell, the council’s “pop-up village” of temporary homes on Lewisham High Street, is now due to be demolished from July 2027. The date is in a housing report going to Mayor and Cabinet on Wednesday 4 November.

The Lewisham Builds programme update says a demolition programme “has been developed to begin in July 2027”. That depends on the building being empty by the end of June 2027.

The same report asks the cabinet to agree, in principle, that the council may use compulsory purchase powers on the Achilles Street estate in New Cross.

PLACE Ladywell

PLACE Ladywell opened in 2016. It provides temporary homes for 24 homeless families, with ground-floor space for community and business use, according to the council’s page on the scheme. It was designed with Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

It was built to move. The council’s page says the plan was for it to stay on the site “for no more than four years, after which it will be deconstructed, moved and reconstructed elsewhere in the borough”. The new report talks about demolition, not a move. It does not say what happens to the families living there, or to the building’s parts. The capital costs are in the confidential Part 2 of the report.

The building stands on the site of the old Ladywell Leisure Centre. The council is building Ladywell Park Gardens on the rest of that land:

  • 102 homes in four blocks
  • 47 for social rent and 55 for shared ownership
  • built by Higgins Partnership, under a contract signed in February 2026

Higgins is already using part of PLACE Ladywell as its site office, the report says.

Achilles Street: compulsory purchase in principle

The Achilles Street estate is the council’s largest planned housing site, with about 280 new homes forecast. Residents voted for the regeneration in a 2019 ballot, with 73% of eligible voters in favour. Planning permission was granted in February 2026, and contracts for the first two phases were signed with Hill in August.

Phase 2 needs Azalea House to be empty. The report gives these figures:

  • Azalea House had 12 private leaseholders when the council’s voluntary buyback began
  • the council has bought 6 by agreement, and is using them as temporary accommodation
  • 6 remain: 4 live there and 2 do not
  • officers have met, or arranged to meet, 3 of the 4 resident leaseholders

The council is offering what it would pay under a compulsory purchase order. That means full market value, a home-loss payment of 10% for resident leaseholders and 7.5% for non-resident ones, and reasonable fees. Resident leaseholders are also entitled to a shared equity home in Phase 1.

The cabinet is asked to agree that compulsory purchase may be used “should it prove necessary”. This is not the order itself. If officers decide one is needed, the report says a further report will come back to Mayor and Cabinet seeking authority to make it. The council has also bought 8 homes by agreement in the Phase 3 blocks.

What else the report says

Bar chart of new homes in the Lewisham Builds schemes named in the 4 November 2026 report: Achilles Street estate about 280, Thomas' Lane Yard 113, Mais House 110, Ladywell Park Gardens 102, Mayfield 64, Bampton 39, Algernon 4
Homes per scheme, from the council's 4 November report. Chart by Lewisham News
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  • Completed since January: 153 social homes, at Mais House (110, March 2026), Algernon (4, July) and Bampton (39, July).
  • Under contract: 201 homes across three sites, including Ladywell Park Gardens and 64 homes at Mayfield in Lee Green, where Hill started main works at the end of March.
  • 52-54 New Cross Road: the contractor, Charles Edwards Limited, ended the contract for 35 affordable flats in March 2025. The council took legal action and has reached a settlement.
  • Thomas’ Lane Yard, Catford: 113 affordable homes, 39 for social rent. The council got vacant possession in September, and the business on the site, Supersets, has moved to another site it occupies in Charlton.
  • Willow Way, Forest Hill: talks with the developer, Kitewood, stalled and the scheme is now “On Hold”.
  • The Bridge, Lower Sydenham: the leisure centre closed in March 2020, and the report says no “obvious preferred way forward” has been found.
  • Bell Green: the council is in talks with Barratt about buying another 62 homes, 51 of them for social rent.
  • Temporary accommodation purchases: 288 homes had been bought by 31 August, most of them two-bedroom.
  • GLA bid: the council bid in April for £775.73m to build 3,070 affordable homes over ten years. The report says the bid was heavily oversubscribed. The result is in the confidential part.

What it means for you

  • If you live at PLACE Ladywell: the report sets the end of June 2027 as the date the council needs the building empty. It gives no detail on rehousing, so ask your housing officer what it means for you.
  • If you are an Azalea House leaseholder: the voluntary buyback stays open. Agreeing a sale avoids a compulsory purchase, and the terms on offer match what an order would pay.
  • To watch the decision: Mayor and Cabinet meets at 6pm on 4 November. The papers and webcast link are on the council meetings page.

For more on the council’s building partner, see our report on Hill being named Lewisham’s housing partner. For homes going through planning, see Lewisham planning applications.

Sources