Landsec’s blocked £.5bn shopping centre plan leaves Lewisham in the worst of all worlds

Lewisham’s £1.5bn shopping centre redevelopment freeze, caused by a breakdown between Landsec and the Council, has left residents, traders, and the town centre stranded in uncertainty, says Sergiy Lesyk Lewisham shows how a council can lose a £1.5bn scheme and gain nothing. Landsec, the property company that has owned Lewisham Shopping Centre for more than 20 years, has put its £1.5bn redevelopment of the centre on hold. Councillors approved the scheme in October 2025, and work had been due to start in 2027. Now nobody can say when, or whether, anything will happen. You don t have to have liked the plans to see the problem that residents and traders in Lewisham now face. Landsec gave two reasons: one was the cost of building in London, the other was the Council. In Landsec s words, recent statements from the Council make clear that the administration is not able to support the next phase of land assembly needed to unlock delivery without a significant increase in affordabl