Lewisham Shopping Centre: Landsec backs out in win for anti-gentrification campaigners

In a statement this morning, developer Landsec said that it is "deprioritising" its controversial development of Lewisham Shopping Centre, and will pause its plans indefinitely.

The masterplan, which would have built multiple new towers in Lewisham town centre, was approved in October 2025 by Lewisham council's previous Labour administration, despite strong opposition from housing campaigners.

Alongside the redevelopment of the shopping centre, the new development offered 1,400 market rate homes, with only 98 social homes and 124 units suitable for families.

After citing the rising costs of construction in London, Landsec continues: "Recent statements from Lewisham council also make clear that the administration is not able to support the next phase of land assembly needed to unlock the redevelopment of the shopping centre without a significant increase in affordable housing".

This seems to be a reference to the CPO for the land at Lewisham House No. 1 which Landsec wanted to included in its development.

Landsec concludes that the council's position on affordable housing "combined with the exceptionally difficult economic conditions, mean that we no longer see a sufficiently certain route to delivery."

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'Significant role of community organising'

Faris Luke, lead organisor with Lewisham People's Assembly (LPA), which ran the campaign Save Lewisham Shopping Centre, said that "the significant role of community organising that led to this outcome" should not be underestimated.

"The LPA was responsible for highlighting many of the development's shortcomings that were obscured by Landsec and the Lewisham Labour Party, to tens of thousands of Lewisham residents ..

"The LPA was also responsible for building up public pressure on the council in our numerous rallies to push back against the redevelopment .. which culminated in the Green Lewisham mayor, Liam Shrivastava, announcing that he would not support the CPO of Lewisham House unless there was a significant increase in social housing."

But while campaigners are celebrating, this is not the result that the Green administration wanted and Daniel Dream, cabinet member of inclusive generation, planning and housing delivery describes it as "disappointing".

The new Green administration signed the Section 106 agreement for the development in July and for several months did not make any clear public statements about the development,

The LPA lobbied the council relentlessly and eventually secured a debate of the group's petition at the full council meeting on 23 September.

On the morning of the debate, Lewisham mayor Liam Shrivastava set out his position on instagram, which appears to now be his primary communications channel.

Saying "Labour have dealt us a bad hand" he continues "I will not use the CPO powers unless I see a significant increase in social housing in this scheme".

However, Shrivastava repeatedly insisted over the summer that he had not seen the CPO "pass across his desk". There were other routes open to Landsec and Shrivastava seemed to acknowledge this in his reel.

He concludes: "We will not fold to developers but we also won't overplay our hand .. my position on the shopping centre is not going to make 100% of people 100% happy."

The Green administration were criticised by the LPA and by the Labour opposition group during the debate, for abandoning their election campaign pledge to oppose the development.

The pledge was signed by 18 Green candidates who became councillors.

During the the debate, different Green councillors explained there was little they could do, blamed Labour and trailed their new housing strategy, which they announced on 8 October.

Reacting to Landsec's statement today, Shrivastava said: "The fact is the conditions for such projects are simply not favourable right now ..

"This should serve as a stark reminder to the government that the current approach to housing delivery is not working and that urgent reform is needed to unlock development and deliver the homes communities need.” 

He insisted that Landsec continues to be a "valued local partner" and then mentioned the council's £24m programme of improvements for the town centre.

In fact, the mayor and cabinet have signed off costs for the programme at £30.5m, leading to a £6.5m shortfall which will impact the council's budget.

Luke said: "We still want to see development and investment in Lewisham, but now this brings opportunities for proposals that actually work to sufficiently meet community needs .."

He gave the council's plans for Thomas Lane Yard and Achilles Street as examples of schemes that the group support.

The LPA supports "refurbishing underused or deteriorating spaces, financially responsible decision-making, and valuing the existing architecture and culture of the area for a redevelopment model that's cheaper to implement, minimises potential displacement outcomes and is environmentally friendly," Luke said.

"We will carry on advocating for this development model .. and for the council to engage with community and private stakeholders who .. want to achieve strong outcomes for Lewisham that prioritise the needs of the community first and foremost."

Daniel Dream said: "While it's disappointing .. this decision [by Landsec] reinforces the need to rethink how we deliver the homes and places our communities need ..

"We are exploring new ways of working with developers and investors so that schemes can work for both sides, from sharing risk to giving earlier certainty on planning."

Now Landsec has done what private developers do and chosen to withdraw. While clearly a success for the Save Lewisham Shopping Centre campaigners, it is not so clearly a success for the council.

They have found out that as Labour had told them, negotiating with private developers is harder than they expected.

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