Surrey Canal offers a significant opportunity for major regeneration in the London Borough of Lewisham. This site, located on Lewisham’s north-eastern perimeter, occupies a gateway position to the bordering London Borough of Southwark and Central London. Furthermore it is the long-term home to Millwall Football Club.
The proximity to Central London and Canary Wharf, its adjacency to South Bermondsey BR Station, the proposed Surrey Canal Station on the East London Line and its sheer size are invaluable assets that make it a highly suitable location for creating a new mixed-use urban quarter that will act as a key catalyst for regeneration and change in North Lewisham.
After a competitive process, Studio Egret West were appointed to prepare a detailed masterplan for the site through to outline planning permission. The site area is 10Ha and our target total built area is 250,000m2. The indicative number of jobs is 2,000 and the target number of homes is 2,500 with a density of 700 hr/h and a range of building heights from 2-26 storeys. Our challenge is to create a sustainable, high quality, high identity development at this location, with the need to form a new exemplar for high density living in London. Today the site is severely limited in its permeability. It is confined on two sides by railway embankments and viaducts. The site is underutilized. The area is largely devoid of identifiable features such as local centres, and community and leisure facilities.
Our vision is to create a new and exciting piece of London – a 21st century village within a world-class city, based around a new regional centre of sporting excellence. The framework focuses on a series of vital components that will collectively shape what is to become London’s New Sporting Village: a range of indoor sports and health facilities – football, cricket, basketball, gymnastics, boxing, a health clinic clinic; better connections and improved transport links including a new station on the East London Line; a Multifaith Community Centre; a hotel and conference centre; a startup business hub and creative industries centre, and; an improved setting for Millwall Football Club.
Two layers of public realm coexist; one on the ground that is robust enough to take thousands of football fans moving through and gathering, yet flexible enough to provide an intimate and animated open space during non-match days. The higher levels are designed to create a high quality amenity space for residents, and an ecological connection with the surrounding embankments
