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The Muse Way: How partnership working breathed new life into Lewisham Gateway
Mike Auger, managing director - South for Muse, on the 20-year place changing regeneration project, now nearing completion, that has transformed the south east London town.
What would you think about a busy roundabout on a congested island that was hostile to pedestrians? Whatever your answer, this was the gateway to Lewisham. Over decades, the gateway had developed into a complex web of roads, a roundabout, disjointed pedestrian routes and bus stands. Designed when the car was king, it was intersected by immovable railway lines and natural watercourses had been buried under concrete plinths.
For the thousands of passengers who pour from Lewisham’s rail and DLR stations each day, it was uninviting, uncomfortable, and uninspiring. Moreover, this all added up to a wasted opportunity. In 2004, Muse was selected by Lewisham Council to bring forward the place-changing regeneration of Lewisham Gateway. At the heart of the project was a mission to connect Lewisham town centre to its transport hub and enhance its status as a metropolitan centre within London.
Nearly 20 years later, we’re now edging towards completion. We’re creating a new community, a thriving family-friendly evening and weekend economy, complete with new public spaces for all to enjoy. We’re even introducing Lewisham’s first multiscreen cinema since the famous Lewisham Odeon, which closed in 1981. The venue had previously played host to world-renowned artists, including the Beatles, David Bowie and the Who to name a few. We haven’t moved mountains, but we have moved two rivers and a roundabout. This is The Muse Way, and this is how we did it.
A new pedestrian route will open, reconnecting Lewisham Station with the town centre and high street. Thousands of passengers will be directed along an attractive boulevard towards the borough’s established shops and businesses. It will help drive long-term economic growth.
Rethinking the gateway into Lewisham At Muse, we take pride in making the complex simple, and Lewisham Gateway was complex. The deliverables are clear: over 1,000 new homes, 25,000 sq ft of shops, 15,000 sq ft of cafes and restaurants, 10,000 sq ft of offices, a gym, multiplex cinema and new public squares. This does little to capture the true transformational impact of what our partnership has achieved.
Covering over 17 acres of Lewisham town centre - partially owned by the local authority, the Greater London Authority, Transport for London, and The London Bus Company - it took over three years to assemble the site through a compulsory purchase. The established roundabout was a pivotal part of south-east London’s transport infrastructure -an immovable urban artery which served thousands of vehicles a day.
A major sewer system intersected the site, along with two culverted rivers: the Ravensbourne and the Quaggy. Alongside the landowners, we worked closely with TfL on reconfiguring the highway network, with Thames Water to divert the major sewer alongside realigning around 15 other utilities and services, and with the Environment Agency to reroute both rivers. We engaged with Network Rail and the DLR operator in order to work alongside the tracks. We have consulted closely and carefully with the community as our collective vision developed.
Success depended on creating a coalition of partners and binding them together with shared long-term objectives. It has been a public-private partnership working at its best, collaborating towards common goals.
Making Lewisham Gateway stack up
Regeneration at this scale is not cheap. Funds for the required major infrastructure changes came from Muse’s own resources but were critically supported by funding from Homes England. Without this crucial support, Lewisham Gateway would not have come out of the ground and, even then, it took bold, Iong-term thinking to make it happen. At times, we all. needed to hold our nerve with the overall project straddling both the global financial crisis and Covid. Viability, of course, is a challenge for any complex regeneration - even more so here, given the infrastructure required. We worked hard to find solutions that aligned with our vision.
The development is dense but appropriate for the PTAL 6b location, making the most of the site’s central location to provide a meaningful contribution towards Lewisham’s housing targets. Public spaces and new pedestrian routes have stitched the Gateway into the fabric of the town centre, the scheme providing key missing links to allow Lewisham to flow and function as a holistic place. We worked tirelessly on the details.
We also recognised the importance of affordable living and we’re proud - despite the viability challenges - to be delivering 20 per cent affordable homes in Phase 2, all tenure blind and tenure flexible, alongside private rental homes. We’ve also created a number of co-living homes, recognising the need to retain more young people in the area. Of course, the local impact has also been significant. The project has created significant social and local economic value. That has made a real difference. 545 weeks’ worth of experience for apprentices have been facilitated and 1,296 people from the local area have been employed, contributing to £50 million worth of investment in local employment, with each and every individual helping to make the development a reality.
Local businesses have also provided materials and resources as part of the £53 million that was spent locally on the project. This means real money in the pockets of businesses across Lewisham and Greater London; real jobs and economic security for communities.
At Muse, we prioritise the things that make a great place for people in the long term. It means the amenities and facilities people need, offices and workspaces for businesses, community space, nature and biodiversity, and healthy transport. All this is enabled and delivered by the regeneration of Lewisham Gateway.
Lewisham Gateway today
Earlier this year, we completed the first phase of the project. Alongside the major infrastructure work, we have delivered 362 new homes, along with shops, restaurants, and a new park, with access to the newly uncovered Ravensbourne and Quaggy rivers. Phase two started in July 2020 and is set to complete at the end of the year. A new pedestrian route will open, reconnecting Lewisham Station with the town centre and high street. Thousands of passengers will be directed along an attractive boulevard towards the borough’s established shops and businesses. It will help drive long-term economic growth.
A new cinema - the only one in Lewisham - will open next year. It will act as an anchor for an emerging evening economy. Over time, it will support new bars, restaurants, and venues across the town centre.
The regeneration we’re delivering will create a community that can live, work and spend time in a bustling new Lewisham, full of life and amenities; not simply residents who leave for the city in the morning and return at night, never venturing from their house or apartment.
Our architecture has reconnected the community to its heritage. Up until the 1930s, this part of Lewisham played a vital role in spinning golden thread for military uniforms. We have incorporated a new "golden thread" across our facades. This is now being replicated in new development across this part of Lewisham, leaving another positive legacy. Lewisham Gateway is transformed.
Rather than blocking connectivity and growth, it’s a place to live, to spend time, and to drive prosperity and opportunity. It’s making a meaningful contribution to the social fabric of Lewisham and will continue to do so for decades to come. Now, compare that to a roundabout.
The Muse Way
As we edge closer to completion, we’re looking back at the lessons we’ve learned and to future opportunities across London and beyond - other places that can be reimagined to better serve their communities, drive growth, and improve social and physical connection. We have partnerships across the country and are constantly driving change - chances to create beautiful, sustainable places designed around people. Lewisham Gateway is proof of The Muse Way. We have shown what’s possible when the public and private sector come together in partnership, alongside communities, to deliver meaningful legacies.
Find out more: Download "The Muse Way" on our website to read more about our approach at www.museplaces.com
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