New masterplan documents now online

The planning documents for the revised masterplan for Convoys Wharf are now available online, with the official date for comments set as 1st July 2013. Comments can be submitted right up to the date when the application goes before the strategic planning committee, but you should aim to submit your objection as soon as possible.

You can find the 56 documents on Lewisham's planning website, either by searching under 'convoys' or clicking the link here.

Deptford Is.. evaluating the new proposals and will be publishing our comments on this website over the coming days and weeks. One immediate difference we note is that the heights of the towers (shown above) has increased.

We intend to hold a planning workshop to help people understand the implications and extent of the proposals and give them the opportunity to write a planning objection if they wish to do so.

If you want to be kept up to date with our plans, please join our mailing list by entering your details into the panel in the left-hand column. We will only use your details for this purpose, and you are free to unsubscribe at any time.

Deptford's 'spectacular history'

The full text of Joan Ruddock's introduction at the recent Naval Dockyards Society conference has now been published on her website. We have included our highlights below.

When I was first invited by local Labour party activists to contest the selection to succeed the late John Silkin MP I was a stranger to South East London. My only reference point was Samuel Pepys’ diaries and his oft recorded “went down to Deptford”. .

Looking back it wasn’t a bad connection to have made because although my life has been bound up with all the contemporary issues of the past 25 years a small thread has drawn me repeatedly back to the Dockyards. It was the vicar of St Nicholas Church, Graham Corneck, who first got me interested in the history of the Royal Dockyard. Christopher Marlowe’s bones are reputed to rest in St Nicholas’ churchyard and Graham was an enthusiast for the history of that time.

Deptford has a spectacular history, sadly little appreciated or promoted locally.

It was the decision of News International to close Convoys Wharf - the last remaining working wharf - that got me enthralled with the history of the Royal Dockyard. When the site was due for closure the management invited me to a meeting to explain their plans and assure me that the hundred odd workers were all to be redeployed. I was astounded to see the extent of the site – a footprint equivalent to the whole of the South Bank – yet hidden from public view for decades. My immediate concern was how we, the local people, would regain the site and access to the amazing river frontage. 

Instinctively I knew that development plans would come forward, based on millionaire’s housing and no respect for the site’s extraordinary heritage. I was right – over the next few years, I, the council and local people pressed our case. The first proposals were scrapped, a new master plan was produced but in the end News International abandoned their task and sold to Hutchinson Whampoa in 2008. They equally struggled to find their way. Eventually I insisted on meeting a senior Chinese executive. We had a very tough meeting in which I likened the importance of the Royal Dock Yards' place in British history to that of the Great Wall of China in his. Probably this is the one audience that doesn’t think I exaggerated.

Convoys Wharf when I first visited it was a concrete wasteland with huge sheds dotted randomly on site. One building stood out – the Olympia Warehouse – with its huge ugly façade but superb Victorian vaulted ironwork inside. Fortunately this had been listed and will remain on site but I was appalled to learn that the remains of a Tudor storehouse had been pulled down as late as the 1950s. 

Model of the Tudor storehouse

My basic demands for the redevelopment of Convoys Wharf were complete access to the site for all including the riverfront, a mix of jobs and homes, including affordable homes, recognition and marking of the important heritage and mitigation of the impacts of such a vast development on local roads, transport and services. I knew there would be many objections as there always are but what I didn’t anticipate was the advance of two hugely imaginative projects by local people. 

A group of people led by a local boat builder, Julian Kingston, have put forward a plan to build a replica ship. The project is to build a replica of the Lenox which was the first of the great thirty ship programme of 1677, overseen by Samuel Pepys. The plan is based on the 20 year research programme undertaken by marine historian Richard Endsor which means that it is possible to construct an exact replica. The details of the potential build are fascinating and could employ an army of apprentices. I have never had a particular interest in boats but contemporary paintings record a magnificent war ship that could not fail to inspire. 

The second project is one particularly close to my heart as a former botanist. The Sayes Court project is led by landscape gardener Roo Angell and Bob Bagley. They have researched the origins of John Evelyn’s garden established at Sayes Court in 1653. John Evelyn worked on his designs and experimented with plans over a period of 30 years, making his garden one of the most famous and revolutionary gardens of its time. The remains of his manor house and the site of most of his garden now lie within the boundary of Convoys Wharf. 

The project aims to create a John Evelyn Centre based on the archaeological remains of the ancient manor house and to plant an extensive garden with trees and medicinal herbs. Once again this site could offer the opportunity to combine natural beauty, scientific research and a place of relaxation for local people. 

The site requires a decae-long investment programme

We are looking at a decade-long development programme during which we will need to be vigilant. I won’t be the MP by the time it’s completed but I’m intending to stay involved. This is a part of our heritage too important to miss.

Convoys Wharf plans: 'everything that is wrong with our property industry'.

An opinion piece in the property industry weekly Estates Gazette has given an excoriating assessment of the new Farrell masterplan for Convoys Wharf. The column was written by Paula Hirst, head of regeneration at Mazars (and incidentally also one of hopefuls competing to be chosen as prospective parliamentary candidate for the Lewisham Deptford seat).

As the introduction to the article explains, Hirst 'offers her thoughts on a scheme which seems to hark back to the 80s...'

Thursday's London Evening Standard heralded "a £1bn vision to transform Deptford", announcing a new scheme on the Thames-fronted Convoys Wharf site by Sir Terry Farrell. 

With a plan to "turn the rundown riverside neighbourhood into a thriving 'Shoreditch of south London'", the scheme proposals are to include 3,500 homes, shops, restaurants and a primary school, alongside three new parks. Oh, and three high-rise towers of up to 48 storeys (yes, you did read that right), with luxury apartments at the top. 

Putting the question of whether London needs two Shoreditches to one side for a moment, reading this article I wondered whether we had somehow been transported back in time to the 1980s where no-one really seemed to know what regeneration meant. It was an era where shiny glossy buildings would somehow "transform" an area through real estate development, although whether for better or worse would be highly dependent on exactly where you sat on the income spectrum. 

Well, Deptford is not the London Docklands, and this is not the 1980s. Deptford has some of the highest density housing in the country. Convoys Wharf backs onto an area with more people living in one place than live in many small towns. There are already quite a lot of residential towers on the skyline. And there has been no access to the river for 13 years for local people. 

Yes, local people would very much like to be able to have some more open space, more parks would be welcome, a view and the ability to sit by the river would be enjoyed by many. That's why the development of Convoys Wharf is important and a long time overdue. 

And there is a local, Londonwide, and national housing shortage, so a few more homes on a site that big would be important. But a high-density scheme that's pretending to be Canary Wharf mark two? Difficult to see what this might bring to local people. 

Farrell is not wrong when he says that there are lots of creative people living in Deptford. It's already a thriving hub of creative industries, in no small part due to the successful regeneration schemes already undertaken. 

But it's hard to see how three new luxury giant tower blocks of gleaming steel and glass will be of much benefit to that industry. It's hard to imagine how 3,500 homes won't create intense additional stress on existing infrastructure. It's hard to envisage how such towers will be of benefit to anyone locally at all, in fact, unless you count creating a massive shadow over their balconies and gardens a benefit. No, didn't think so. 

Deptford, located in South East London in the borough of Lewisham, contains high amounts of social housing, and is within the 10% most deprived areas in the country. Successful regeneration schemes understand the context they are in, seek to integrate within the area, and provide facilities and amenities which open up new opportunities for local people. 

They don't seek to create an island of wealth separated from and adjacent to existing areas, which local people don't feel welcome in, cannot afford, and in all likelihood will have limited access to physically. 

In developing a scheme that faces Canary Wharf rather than its hinterland, Farrell appears to be giving local people a clear sign that this is not for them. But then Farrell is quite used to this. One only needs to look at the controversial Earls Court scheme to see that existing communities are considered pretty marginal if not totally inconsequential, to development plans. 

Where on earth the money is going to come from for a £1bn scheme in this day and age is anyone's guess, but no doubt someone has heard the money bells ringing, knowing there is an almost clear 40-acre site with prime river frontage. 

But let's stop for a minute before anyone decides that somehow giving local people access to the river by sticking huge residential towers on their doorstep is regeneration, or that somehow or other they will benefit or be grateful. This is pure real estate development, and represents everything that is wrong with our property industry. 

What Deptford needs is not more high-density housing in an area of existing high density, putting more pressure on existing infrastructure. What's needed is more open space, free to enjoy access to the river, and new employment opportunities that go way beyond construction. 

Opening up Convoys Wharf once again to local people is a must. But let's do it right. Let's invest in our communities, not take from them. Let's regenerate areas, not just develop them. And above all, let's value the amazing spirit of the people of Deptford by developing a scheme with the community for the community; one that harnesses that spirit and enables it to thrive.

Convoys Wharf revised masterplan in the news

Convoys Wharf was the focus of several articles in local papers and the architectural press this week, after Hutchison Whampoa and Terry Farrell briefed the press on the new masterplan for the site, the planning application for which is due to be submitted shortly.

At the time of writing, the documents had not yet been made available, but we are assuming that the masterplan that will be submitted is the one that has been shown at previous public open days, which we wrote about on this blog. When the documents are available we will publish our own assessment.

Much of the coverage has been largely cut-and-pasting from the press release, which was presumably sent out by Hutchison Whampoa. 

However the architectural magazine Building Design was critical of the new masterplan, with the magazine's executive editor Ellis Woodman using his leader column to back up some of the issues raised by Deptford Is..   

"Since its closure as a site of industry in 2000, Convoys Wharf in Deptford has proved one of London’s most intractable development conundrums. Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners and Aedas have previously drawn up plans for the 16ha Thames-side site and now Terry Farrell’s office has submitted a third proposal. 

Sadly, it remains no less persuasive than its predecessors. 

The fundamental problem is the developers’ determination to create 3,500 new homes on a site 10km from the centre of London that lacks a tube stop. That is a particular problem given how few of this luxury riverside development’s 9,000 residents will be employed close to home. Deptford is, after all, one of the poorest wards in one of the poorest boroughs in London. 

Quite what the development gives back to the community is also hard to fathom. Once an area providing local employment, it is to be replaced by a dormitory village that lacks the transport network to support it. Instead, what’s needed is a development that recognises the obligations it owes the community."

The Evening Standard, whose architecture critic Kieran Long wrote insightfully about the project in 2011, went to the other extreme, focussing on Terry Farrell's quote that his masterplan was capable of turning Deptford into 'the Shoreditch of south London'. Deptford Is.. finds this concept hard to grasp, and questions the basis of such an assertion.

Leaving aside the question of whether local residents want to live in a 'new Shoreditch', the notion that building a high-density residential development in an area of deprivation will turn one place into another is out of touch with reality. Terry Farrell was supposedly brought in to re-imagine the masterplan and connect it with the site's heritage, using a 'ground-up' approach that respected the history of Deptford and used it to inform a revised proposal. Farrell also said that the development would attract a more affluent class of resident to Deptford. That much is clear, since the prices of apartments are likely to be well above the means of most people living here already, but there is little indication of how this will have a positive impact on Deptford.

Naval Dockyards Society conference: 500 years of Deptford and Woolwich Royal Dockyards

The five-hundred year anniversary of the founding of Royal Dockyards at Deptford and Woolwich was the theme of the annual conference organised by the Naval Dockyards Society at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich this weekend.

To mark this historic milestone and draw attention to the plight of these sites that risk being forgotten, the NDS lined up a series of speakers who gave presentations on different aspects of the dockyards.

Local MP Joan Ruddock opened the conference, and voiced her support for the Sayes Court Gardens and Lenox schemes being put forward by Deptford Is.. to recognise the significant heritage of the site.

Chris Ellmers is president of the Dockland History Group and was instrumental in setting up the Museum in Docklands in 2003. His presentation examined the private shipyards at Deptford and how they related to Deptford Dockyard over the period from 1790 to 1869. He pointed out that attention is almost always focused on the Royal Dockyard, but that Deptford also has a very rich history of shipbuilding at private yards. Merchant sailing ships, innovative steamers and early iron ships were also built in these dockyards and during the Napoleonic War the private shipyards also built and repaired naval vessels.

Peter Cross-Rudkin from the ICE Panel for Historical Engineering Works spoke about John Rennie, who was effectively the consulting engineer to the Navy from about 1806 onwards. He was involved in planning and designing works at Deptford and Woolwich, as well as Chatham, Milford Haven and Sheerness. The dock gates and parts of the river wall at Convoys Wharf (above) were designed by Rennie.

Archaeologist Duncan Hawkins (above, at one of the open days on the site) who led the excavations at Convoys Wharf presented his findings so far. He noted that while few artefacts were found at the site, the nineteenth-century slipways, entrance to the Great Dock, and the Dockyard basin were in relatively good condition.

Mark Stevenson is English Heritage's archaeology adviser for national planning for South London, and he spoke about archaeology and development management in the context of the developments that have taken place in Woolwich Dockyard and those planned for Deptford.

Finally Chris Mazeika and William Richards (owners of the Master Shipwrights House) presented a paper on the Dockyards Officers Terrace at Deptford (above). Their presentation focussed on the Dockyard Officers' Terrace, tracing its early history from a WWII bomb damage map, plans from the 1930s and a photograph taken around 1900. By analysing these resources and comparing them with earlier naval records as well as further photographic and cartographic evidence, they established that a terrace was present as early as 1623 and survived in part until the post-war period.

This discovery prompts the question as to whether the terrace at Deptford is the first palace front terrace in a royal naval dockyard. 

They also showed a fly-through 3D model of the site showing the location of the former terrace. 

The Greenwich Industrial History blog has also published a report on the conference.

Convoys Wharf public exhibition

A public exhibition in Deptford over two days last week presented proposals for the redevelopment of the Convoys Wharf site, on the site of the former Royal Dockyard.

Representatives from Hutchison Whampoa and its team were present to answer questions about the proposals, and there was a new – yet much smaller – model offering a somewhat more accurate representation of the heights of the buildings in relation to those bordering the site.

Fundamental concerns
However Deptford is.. had fundamental concerns about the clarity and legibility of the display material and models on show. Once again the enormous low-level model was used as the central exhibit, with the result that many people came away with from the event unaware of the height and density of the buildings that are proposed. One local resident even mocked-up a block of polystyrene at the scale of the model to demonstrate the height of the larger towers – you can see this in action in a photograph on the Crosswhatfields blog.

The new model gave some indication of building heights

Consultation process

We believe that for a public consultation event to be successful and meaningful, it is of paramount importance that the public understand what is being presented. We also thought it would have been appropriate for someone from Lewisham planners to be present – if only to hear the questions and comments made by visitors, and the explanations that were offered by the developer’s team.

Members of Deptford is.. who visited the exhibition and spoke at length to the staff who were present, gained some encouragement from the fact that visionary projects it has been fostering - in particular Sayes Court Gardens and the Lenox Project - are slowly gaining acceptance. Both of these projects are based on ideas inspired by and relating directly to the rich heritage of the site.

However, many of the objections that we voiced after the public exhibition last year remain unaddressed, in particular those relating to the density and massing of the buildings, and the lack of public transport provision. 

Density and massing

Firstly the density: Hutchison Whampoa is still pushing for 3,500 units, but we believe that the burden of proof lies with them, to demonstrate a viable plan for this size of development. While the new architects may have done some good work on the masterplan, they have proved that it is not possible to build 3,500 units in this space and still have a liveable, sustainable environment. They may have reduced parking spaces from six to around four per ten units, but with this density, that’s still an awful lot of vehicles. The proposed use of podium parking blocks – since the remains of the dockyard prevent them excavating for underground car parks – will contribute to a ‘canyon’-type experience at street level.

Farrells has responded to objections from English Heritage by reducing the heights of the blocks proposed for the waterfront, and those next to the Master Shipwrights House and Watergate Street. But this is at the expense of the centre of the site, where building heights are now much higher and grim-looking chasms are being created.

Olympia shed - at the heart of the site but not the planning

Olympia building
At the middle of the site, there is still no real solution being offered for the Olympia shed. The current suggestion is for some kind of ‘Turbine Hall’ space hosting temporary events and ‘pop-up’ uses. But such a vision for Deptford is ill-conceived – it will never attract the number of visitors that frequent central-London venues such as Covent Garden or Spitalfields. The inevitable result would be an empty, ill-defined space for three weeks out of four. We believe that a coherent plan for the Olympia building should be formulated and agreed before the developer submits any planning application?

Transport

Only vague statements have so far been provided to back up the contention that this size of development will not have an adverse impact on local transport. They claim 10% of residents will use the riverboat, and yet state that of all those cars, the majority will not be driven in rush hour. There are no plans to increase capacity at local railway or DLR stations. According to the transport consultant, capacity on local trains will be freed up sufficiently to accommodate the Convoys residents in five years time when Crossrail opens.

Streetscape, affordable housing
No studies of the effect of the buildings on daylight or wind at ground level have yet been carried out. Despite ongoing pressure from the council, only 14% affordable housing is proposed - 500 units out of the 3,500 maximum.

Sustainability
Hutchison Whampoa proposes to create active frontage on all the podium block streets, for retail and leisure for these. We question whether Convoys will be able to sustain this amount and type of active frontage where other local developments have been unable to do so. The developer’s employment strategy is limited to construction, hospitality and retail; we believe there is the need for a proper analysis of what is required not only to service the new development, but in the local area as well.

Improved views
We noted some positive changes in the masterplan, however. The proposal for the route through the site from Sayes Court, up to the Olympia building and out across the (basin) to the river is a notable improvement. A wide avenue, approaching the Olympia building obliquely, will offer a unique view of the Olympia facade, and gives the chance for the cultural and heritage assets to imbue and feed into the rest of the scheme. The crowning glory of this view would be the great basin – a proper dock, not just a shallow water feature – perhaps even with a replica ship at anchor, preparing for her maiden voyage across the Channel?

John Evelyn Centre, Sayes Court Park and the Lenox

The masterplanners have accepted the suggestion that a John Evelyn Centre be created on the site of the former manor house; the existing Sayes Court Park is now shown extending across the boundary of the development to create a slightly larger public park, and a model boat representing the Lenox project was also present on the masterplan, denoting acceptance of what we believe could be a very exciting, visual and sustainable project with a direct link to the site's past. Such community-led ideas can only add to the value of the site, and if they are provided with the right conditions in which to flourish, will enable a truly heritage-inspired redevelopment and understanding of Convoys Wharf, while at the same time contributing to - perhaps even stimulating - the long-term success of cultural activities on the site.

Masterplan showing proposed layout

Archaeology
Meanwhile the report on the archaeology of the former Royal Dockyard site is expected to be published in May this year, and we await English Heritage's review of the site's significance. Last year the Department for Culture, Media & Sport asked English Heritage to review its decision not to schedule the dockyard once the full archaeology report was published. EH based its decision on earlier reports which had been published before the most recent, extensive excavations were carried out, and we know that the condition and extent of dockyard structures remaining on the site are much greater than was previously thought.

Objections
Comments will of course be invited during the formal planning process, however we urge readers to consider sending objections NOW to their local councillors, their MP, London Authority Member, the planning department at Lewisham Council and the planning section of the Greater London Authority.

You can find the details of your elected representatives by entering your post code on this site.

Lewisham planning department can be contacted at planning@lewisham.gov.uk and the details of the London planning team are here.

If you filled in a comment sheet at the open day, you may wish to ensure that the planners have the opportunity to read your feedback by copying your comments to them directly. You can do this by emailing planning@lewisham.gov.uk

We believe the most serious aspects of the application that HW intends to submit, and to which we are absolutely and fundamentally opposed, are the density and massing of the buildings proposed for the site. 

Other reports
Several other local sites and bloggers reported on the open days: Crosswhatfields, Deptford Dame,  and London's Lost Garden for example. All report little progress, and none are in favour of the development plans as they stand at the moment.

Five Hundred Years of Deptford and Woolwich Royal Dockyards

The Naval Dockyards Society are holding their Annual Conference at the National Maritime Museum on Saturday 20 April.
Five Hundred Years of Deptford and Woolwich Royal Dockyards will mark the 500th anniversary of the foundation of the Thames yards by Henry VIII and will be opened by Dame Joan Ruddock, MP for Lewisham Deptford.

Speakers include:

Chris Ellmers, Dockland History Group  
Deptford private shipyards and their relationship to Deptford Dockyard, 1790-1869
Peter Cross-Rudkin, ICE Panel for Historical Engineering Works  
John Rennie and the Naval Dockyards, 1806-1821
Philip MacDougall, Naval Dockyards Society  
Launch of the 120-gun Nelson - an exploration of Woolwich Dockyard based on a carefully executed print of 1814
Duncan Hawkins CgMs  
The archaeology of a Dockyard: Investigations at Deptford Dockyard 2000 to 2012
Mark Stevenson, English Heritage  
Block and Tackle: raising significance. English Heritage, archaeology and development management
Chris Mazeika and William Richards, Deptford Master Shipwright’s House  
The role of post-closure documentation in understanding the history of the dockyard officers’ terrace at Deptford

Cost: £40 (£35 students, senior citizens, unemployed)
(includes lunch – rolls, sandwiches, fruit, cake, tea and coffee 1.25-2.25pm)

Download the booking form.

www.navaldockyards.org
Facebook: Naval Dockyards Society
Twitter: @navdocksoc

Launch of a 60-gun ship at Deptford Dockyard, attributed to John Cleveley the Elder (c.1712-1777) © Ministry of Defence Art Collection