Southwark council to demolish tower it spent £15m on refurbishing

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A tower block that a council spent more than £15m refurbishing will be bulldozed.

Southwark councillors agreed to bin plans to continue with 26-storey Maydew House’s renovation at a cabinet meeting today.

Instead, the Labour-led council will look to secure a deal for the demolition of the Bermondsey tower, which has been largely empty since 2015.

Kieron Williams, leader of Southwark council, said rising building costs meant refurbishment of the block on the Abbeyfield estate no longer made sense.

Speaking at the meeting, he said: “Having seen the world of housing change dramatically since we set out on this journey, it does feel that we are in a place where refurbishing is no longer a sensible option.

“It would end up in homes that are not ideal homes, in terms of the size and the nature of the homes, and a very expensive building. We can provide better for that amount of money.”

Southwark spent more than half of the £15.2m figure on stripping the tower back to its structure and planning for the renovation works.

The rest of the money was used to build a new substation, a “heating infrastructure diversion,” the demolition of a podium, sheeting for scaffolding, security for the building and on a PCSA – a type of legal agreement used to appoint a building contractor.

Cllr Darren Merrill, Southwark’s cabinet member for council homes and homelessness, said rising costs had made the refurbishment of the tower “impossible.”

Pictured top: Maydew House in Bermondsey (Picture: Google Street View)