Fears of rising costs of Lewisham library delays
The council says it is likely that a revised budget for the town centre improvement programme will be put to Lewisham mayor and cabinet later this year.
Salamander News reported last month that Lewisham library’s expected re-opening date had been delayed again, with completion now forecast for Autumn 2027.
The news that the library’s re-opening will now happen four years after the library was closed was revealed in reply to a public question asked at the Full Council meeting on 22 July.
Since then we have been seeking further information from Lewisham Council.
How did a project within weeks go from proceeding at “excellent pace” to being delayed by a year?
On the 25 February 2026 a report went to Lewisham Mayor and Cabinet proposing new arrangements for procuring the canopy for Lewisham market.
The report also provided an update on the overall Lewisham Town Centre Improvement Programme, which covers Lewisham High Street improvements, Lewisham market transformation and the refurbishment of Lewisham Library.
The Mayor and Cabinet were informed that the "Lewisham library refurbishment is now well into its construction phase and proceeding at an excellent pace ..
"Inside the library, contractors have stripped the interior back to the shell and core, removing outdated fixtures, partitions, and finishes.
"Initial works on the building’s plumbing and drainage system have started, and structural investigations are complete, paving the way for the major refit. The project remains on track, with construction expected to be substantially completed by September 2026."
The council confidently announced the new opening date across all its social media channels and newsletters.
So how did the delays come about, if everything was going well as recently as late February?
The reply at full council said that builders had found "new issues with the secondary structure of the building, relating to brickworks around the concrete core".
A council spokesperson told Salamander that they became aware of the new issue "earlier this year. However, it was not until mid-May that the potential impact on the programme and budget became clearer ..
"The issue relates to areas of brickwork that were found not to be adequately tied back to the building's concrete frame. This condition was concealed behind the existing building fabric and only became apparent once the windows had been removed as part of the construction works."
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Financial clouds gathering over Lewisham town centre project
The delay raises questions relating to the budget for completing the refurbishment of the library, and for other projects within the Lewisham town centre improvement programme.
A council spokesperson said "the financial implications [of the library delay] have not yet been fully quantified .. [but] it is likely that approval for a revised budget covering the wider Lewisham town centre improvement will have to be sought from Mayor and Cabinet later this year".
The current approved budget for the three projects that come under the Lewisham Town Centre Improvement Programme is £24.1m, with the lion's share of the funding (£19.1m) coming from a Levelling Up Fund from central government.
The remaining funding comes from a Section 106 contribution (£0.2m), Community Infrastructure Levy (£3.6m) and capital receipts from the sale of the former Library Resource Centre on Hither Green Lane (£1.2m).
The spokesperson confirmed that the council has been given an extension to the deadline for spending the Levelling Up Fund grant, which has been extended from March 2027 to March 2028.
However, financial challenges to completing the Lewisham Town Centre Improvement Programme within the overall envelope of £24.1m are growing.
In the construction industry time is money, so a year long extension of refurbishment work at Lewisham library must put pressure on the project's initial budget of £8m.
Budget pressures may also start to appear due to slippage in other parts of the Lewisham Town Centre Improvement Programme, for example the new market canopy.
In February, we were told that the market canopy would be completed by November 2026. Lewisham council now expect to complete the canopy by spring 2027.
Restoration work on the clocktower also seems to be behind schedule.
However, budget pressures go back even further. In February, Lewisham council approved a variation in the tender for the Lewisham market canopy.
The estimated cost of the canopy had more than doubled, increasing from £1.3m to £2.9m. The council said that the increase in the cost could be managed "through the use of the contingency built into the overall budget plan, as well as through a reduction in costs in both the high street works and market equipment".
The Mayor and Cabinet were warned in February 2026: "This uplift in cost reduces available contingency across the programme and therefore increases the risk of the project overspending and requiring additional funding".
With overrun in the Lewisham library refurbishment project and other parts of the Lewisham town centre programme, it is hard to escape the conclusion this will add more financial pressure on Lewisham council’s new Green administration.
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