Plans for two blocks of flats scrapped after developer goes bust

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans for two blocks of flats containing 65 homes have been scrapped by a council after the builder bringing forward the buildings went bust.

A block of 34 temporary accommodation flats in Edward Street, Deptford,  and a block of 31 apartments in Winchfield Road near Home Park, Sydenham, will no longer be built.

Lewisham council paused the two housing developments when the firm responsible for bringing forward the projects got into financial troubles last year. Caledonian Modular, which was set to bring forward the projects, went into administration in March 2022.

As recently as July 2022, the council had intended to enter a new contract with a firm to complete the two projects but this never happened.

Lewisham council said a decision to cancel construction was made after ballooning costs meant proceeding with the projects no longer made financial sense. The council now intends to seek out alternative proposals for the two sites.

A Lewisham council spokesman said: “Having explored alternative options for these two developments, we concluded it was no longer viable to proceed with construction, given the significant additional costs that would be required and the ongoing instability within the modular construction industry.

“As a result, these two developments have been halted and the modular units will be disposed of in order to recoup costs. We are currently in the process of pursuing cost recovery and will be bringing forward alternative proposals for these sites that will enable the delivery of much-needed homes.”

The two developments are on hold along with four other projects in the council’s house building programme, Building for Lewisham.

The main aim of the scheme is to create homes for some of the over 10,000 families languishing on the council’s housing waiting list.

The other paused buildings are infill developments at Hensford Gardens and Markwell Close in Sydenham, as well as infill projects at the Evelyn estate Community Centre in Deptford and Dacres Road in Forest Hill.

Speaking at a council housing committee on November 28, Patrick Dubeck, director of inclusive regeneration, said the Building for Lewisham programme had been impacted by construction companies going under.

He said: “Contractor failure has been prevalent in the market for a good number of months now and we’ve been impacted most adversely on our two site scheme Edward Street and Home Park, which was a modular scheme consented two or three years or so ago where the contractor went into administration in 2022.

“We were working with the phoenix company to try and find ways to retain a delivery option but the viability of that became increasingly challenged.”

Pictured top: The proposed development in Edward Street, Deptford (Picture: Lewisham council)