Rebuild of demolished Greenwich estate will see some stock taken out of council hands

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

Greenwich council has agreed to reduce the number of homes it will own in the regeneration of a now demolished estate – meaning fewer people will be able to move into council properties and some will instead have a housing association as their landlord.

The council was forced to accept the proposed changes to the revamped Maryon Grove estate after being warned the viability of the scheme was under serious threat.

The move comes as part of a wider scheme from Greenwich council dating back to 2013 to regenerate three Woolwich estates, which were built in the 1960s.

The project, to be delivered alongside Lovell and PA Housing, seeks to demolish the 1,064 homes in the Connaught, Morris Walk and Maryon Grove estates and to replace them with 1,615 new units as the existing buildings had reached the ‘end of their natural lives’. Of this total, 165 are set to be built in Maryon Grove.

Greenwich council agreed in 2022 to take 265 of the planned homes across the three sites for use as social housing, with 175 of them in the Morris Walk estate and the remaining 90 being scheduled for Maryon Grove. However, the new agreement means the council will own only 53 homes on the Maryon Grove site.

Instead PA Housing’s 79 shared ownership units will become socially rented homes, with the council able to place people on its housing list in the homes albeit they will have PA as a landlord instead of the council. The remaining 33 new units on the site will be available for private sale from Lovell.

The Maryon Grove estate in Woolwich sat empty for over a year after its final residents were moved out in March last year. The site included 172 homes across 16 four-storey blocks, with tall red hoardings being erected around it last year following a fire. The estate had since been demolished.

The decision was approved at a council cabinet meeting last week where Jeremy Smalley, deputy director of regeneration and property, advised the cabinet to approve the proposal to cut the number of homes it will own. He claimed there was a risk that Lovell could walk away from the project if the new plans were refused.

He said: “Due to significant headwinds, for instance build cost inflation in particular but also borrowing costs, the viability of the scheme, of the final phase, is under serious threat.”

Council officers said in their report that the authority would become liable for the costs of the demolition of the estate if partners withdrew their involvement. They added that there was a concern the council would not have the capital to develop the site by itself.

Council documents stated that half of the overall homes available through the three redeveloped estates would be ‘affordable’, either through shared ownership schemes or social rented properties from the council or PA Housing.

Labour Councillor Anthony Okereke, leader of the council, said: “We want more social rented units through housing associations, through the council, through the affordable rent space, and actually we will take that benefit rather than seeing this whole site grind to a halt.”

Pictured top: The Maryon Grove estate, which sits between Woolwich and Charlton (Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga)