Bermondsey’s Maydew House will be put forward for demolition, after years of disruption to ejected residents and thousands of pounds spent on maintaining the empty block.
In 2015, residents were forced to leave the 26-storey Abbeyfield Estate block under the proviso that asbestos would be removed, flats refurbished, and ejected families moved back in.
But at a meeting on November 9, a council officer reportedly told Abbeyfield residents that Southwark Council will be given a recommendation to demolish the 144-flat Bermondsey building.
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After enquiries from the News the Leader of Southwark Council Kieron Williams admitted that demolition will now be an option after dramatic increases in construction costs, major changes to fire safety regulations and the economic crisis have meant it could be too expensive to refurbish.
Abbeyfield residents, who have been living on a “building site” for nearly a decade, are questioning why this recommendation has only just been made.
Southwark Liberal Democrats have meanwhile accused the council of “mismanagement” and wasting taxpayers’ money, with £111,000 already spent on security to guard the empty block.
£3 million has also been spent on absestos removal, although it is likely this would have been necessary in the event of demolition anyway.
Cllr Emily Tester, Southwark Liberal Democrat member for the North Bermondsey ward, said: “In the middle of an extreme housing crisis in Southwark, how can Labour spend hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayer money on a block that has been largely empty for seven years to then tell us they were wrong all along and Maydew House must come down?”
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A recommendation will be put before cabinet in January. While voting councillors aren’t bound by officers’ recommendations, they tend to be heeded and accepted.
A former Maydew resident who wished to remain anonymous said: “It’s a shock to be honest considering how much money has been wasted to date. Residents were told they had the right to return to those homes. We were so happy living there for so many years… they disrupted people’s lives so our homes we loved and cared for could sit desolate for years at huge cost.”
In 2010, when the council was a Liberal Democrat – Conservative coalition, there were plans to sell Maydew House to private developers because refurbishment would be too costly. But when Labour took control of the council in 2012, they decided it would be best to keep the building as social housing and refurbish it.
The plan was then to build five floors on top of Maydew, containing 24 flats for private sale to subsidise the refurbishment of the block. But in July, those plans were thrown into disarray when the council paused all rooftop home builds, and now Maydew looks set to go altogether.
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Cllr Emily Tester added: “We have over 17,000 households on the council homes waiting list. But, Labour’s mismanagement of a block they own shows they are failing in their attempts to cut those numbers down.
“We have residents living next to what has essentially been, and will continue to be, a building site for nearly a decade. And now we find out that in that time Labour simply sat on their hands when we have asked them to make Maydew House inhabitable again.”
The leader of Southwark Council Kieron Williams told the News: “The future of the Abbeyfield estate is a crucial part of the Council Delivery Plan and we are committed to working closely with residents to find a future path that delivers improvements to their estate.
“Our previously published plans included the refurbishment and replacement of the homes in Maydew House. Like all major schemes in London, these plans have been hit by a perfect storm of dramatic increases in construction costs, major new regulatory standards in relation to fire safety and the national inflationary crisis. These combined factors have meant that we needed to go back to residents to look at other options for their estate.
“We have already begun engaging residents directly. The Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness and the Strategic Director of Housing and Modernisation met with residents of neighbouring blocks on November 9th to set out that we will continue to consult and engage them at every stage of this process going forward.
“At that meeting Cllr Merrill explained that we are looking to bring a report to Cabinet in January 2023 on the future of Maydew House. Demolition will be an option included in that report, but as yet no final decision has been taken. The report will also outline our continued approach to the full consultation with residents on the estate about the future of their estate.”
