There are big plans afoot to transform down-at-heel Lewisham Shopping Centre by owner/operator Landsec.

The commercial property giant’s regeneration arm, LandsecU+I, has submitted a hybrid planning application to reimagine the 1970s shopping centre into a new town centre for the southeast London district.

If approved, the 17-acre masterplan will deliver a reworked shopping centre designed to prioritise the retention of the existing infrastructure where possible, “allowing it to remain open for the local community and for development to be delivered in discrete incremental phases”.

The plans include a new urban meadow on the roof of a revamped shopping mall. Meanwhile, ​alongside the reimagined shopping centre will be a pedestrianised high street “creating more choice for locals and new opportunities for brands”. 

“By reinventing the existing structure, Landsec will also take a less-carbon-intensive path to realising Lewisham Town Centre’s potential as a residential-led neighbourhood”, it noted.

The wider scheme will also include 1,700 new homes alongside 445 co-living residences and up to 660 student beds, “progressing Landsec’s pipeline of residential-led opportunities in the capital”.

The new district will be set around eight acres of accessible green space and public realm, including an urban meadow “which sits at the heart of the masterplan”.

The proposals have been shaped in collaboration with over 3,000 people living and working in the borough to “enhance access to nature and open public space with over 300 new trees and three new town squares across eight acres.

Mike Hood, CEO of Landsec U+I, said: “For the last 20 years our team has been embedded within the community and I’m delighted that we were able to create this vision with thousands of people in Lewisham through one of our most extensive public engagement programmes.”