Bermondsey’s Maydew House has long been a frustrating, 26-storey reminder of Southwark’s housing crisis. Many have asked how a 144-flat building could remain empty for almost a decade, while 17,000 people are on the housing waiting list.
For years, we have been told that Maydew would be refurbished, new flats added, and remain a vital source of social housing, just as it has done since it was built in the sixties. But this week, our exclusive story reveals it will now be put forward for demolition.
Many will be dismayed by this news. There are the families who were ejected and promised a move back into their homes. But there are also the residents of the Abbeyfield Estate, who have faced living on a construction site for the last few years.
But regardless of where in Southwark you live, it’s a story that should frustrate everyone. After all, taxpayers’ money has been poured into this project in recent years – and to what end?
Southwark Council has blamed a perfect storm of rising “construction costs, major new regulatory standards in relation to fire safety and the national inflationary crisis”.
There is certainly truth in this. With inflation at a 40-year-high, construction firms have found clients delaying jobs, forcing them to stop buying materials and hiring staff. In August, Gareth Belsham, a director of the national property consultancy Naismiths, said: “As the recessionary vice begins to close on the UK economy as a whole, the construction industry’s brakes are being squeezed harder and faster than most.”
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But this is only part of the story.
The reality is, the Maydew House redevelopment saga has been characterised by confusion and flip-flopping from the outset.
Why did it take two sets of works to remove the asbestos, why were they four years apart, and why did costs go up fourfold from the original estimate to the final bill?
Why do residents say communication has been poor, leaving them confused at every juncture in the development?
There is also the important point that Maydew House was meant to get rooftop homes, many to be sold off privately, to fund the refurbishment. In July, the council, in the face of huge public opposition, paused its rooftop scheme. Surely this is a factor.
These are questions this paper will continue to pursue in the coming weeks. If the demolition does go ahead, Southwark will have to explain how it will make up for the shortfall in social housing created by this demolition. Whichever way you look at it, it’s another dent in the borough’s house-building ambitions.
