The Site

The Flaxyard development is taking place on the open land rear of 1-51 Peckham High Road bounded by Sumner Avenue and Melon Road, and open land adjacent to 59 Peckham High Street.

Following competitive tender in 2020, the council signed a construction contract with Bouygues UK.

There will be three new buildings of four and six storeys

The site will now provide 120 new homes that will be 100% genuinely affordable housing, with 96 new council homes for social rent (80%) and 24 shared ownership homes (20%).

There will also be a ground floor commercial unit to one block.

Start on site is scheduled for 9 August 2021.

Practical completion is estimated for 3 August 2023.

The council has written to local residents and businesses informing them of the anticipated start date.

Historical Context

Before the mid-90s, the site was privately owned and the then owners, Flaxyards, developed a planning application to build a commercial development on it

When that did not go ahead the council stepped in to buy it in 1995.

LBS initially proposed to use as a passenger terminus for the Cross River Tram and a bus interchange.

When that was blocked by political opposition, LBS looked for another use and decided to use it for genuinely affordable housing.

The site is designated in the Southwark Plan for mixed-use residential.

The most recent planning application originally included a plan to convert the council’s Sumner House building into another residential development to help fund the council homes on the Flaxyard site. However, because this building is still needed to provide office space for social workers, these plans have been cancelled and will not take place.

The scheme was originally to be delivered by Clarion Housing Association for the council.

After it was agreed mutually to dissolve the development partnership, the project has been delivered directly as key development to meet the council’s objective to deliver genuinely affordable new homes for local people.